Forever
by alicenotinwonderland
Summary: INDEX ADDED! A series of oneshots featuring the numerous best friends and siblings from the Harry Potter series. This story is a collection of incidents trying to bring out emotions ranging from strong bonds of friendship to sibling rivalry between different characters. Chapter 21: Charlie helps Tonks deal with rejection. He's her best friend for a reason, right?
1. Index

This is an index to help you find your favourite siblings, friends or families. I hope you enjoy these! Don't forget to leave me a review :)

1. Can't Scare Me Away - Having a sister is like having a best friend you can't get rid of. You know whatever you do, they'll still be there. ~Amy Li. A moment from Parvati and Padma's relationship.

2. Checkmate - Louis feels like he doesn't belong with the Weasleys sometimes. Roxanne shows him how wrong he is.

3. Magical Creatures - Lorcan and Lysander find out which are the most magical creatures their parents have ever seen.

4. My Role Model - Helena Ravenclaw is not sure about being different from all the other girls...until her mother reassures her that she's a princess in her own way.

5. Superhero - _Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero. ~Marc Brown. _James would never admit it, but sometimes, he likes taking care of his little brother.

6. Charlie's Siblings - Charlie thought he's an expert babysitter. His siblings prove otherwise in an eventful evening.

7. Best Friends - In a moment of loss, the strength of Parvati and Lavender's relationship is revealed.

8. Being Hufflepuff - Ernie and Hannah seem to be unlikely friends, but if you look closely, they're meant to be the best of friends. A series of moments through their friendship.

9. They're Embarrassing But They're Family - The first time Teddy Lupin gets on the train to Hogwarts, he's embarrassed to be a part of the Weasleys. What makes him change his mind about them?

10. I'll Be There For You - Hermione wishes friendship could be learnt out of a book. A moment from Hagrid and Hermione's friendship.

11. Change Is Inevitable - The first and last time Nicolas Flamel and Albus Dumbledore meet.

12. True Gryffindor - Neville has a strange dream. But can he wake up feeling like more of a Gryffindor thanks to Sir Cadogan?

13. Anything For You - Lily and Petunia would do anything to keep each other safe, even if they aren't on the best of terms. But they both put their faith into the wrong person. A look into why Severus Snape hates being called a coward and the sisters' love for each other.

14. Being Strong - Growing up as a girl with six brothers means that you cannot show weakness. At all. But there are some days when Ginny just needs her Mum. Scenes from Ginny and Molly's relationship.

15. Worth It? - Fred and Molly have a little heart to heart chat leading Fred to wonder if the joke shop is really worth it after all.

16. Want You Around - Hermione wonders if her children will ever be her little kids anymore now that they're all grown up. Hugo puts her worries to rest.

17. Believe - Parvati is doubtful about winning the war until Padma gives her a reason to hope again.

18. Welcome To The Family - Harry is officially inducted into the Weasley family. But what exactly does the process involve?


	2. Can't Scare Me Away

**Disclaimer : I definitely don't own Harry Potter.**

**Hope you like it!**

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><p><em>Having a sister is like having a best friend you can't get rid of. You know whatever you do, they'll still be there. ~Amy Li <em>

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><p>"Nice meeting you here."<p>

Padma turned around in shock, wand at the ready. She lowered it when she saw her twin grinning up at her. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!" she hissed.

"Honestly, that seems like a much nicer way to die than what the Death Eaters have planned for us," said Parvati.

Both girls remained silent for a few minutes. They could hear the sounds of the Battle of Hogwarts coming through the tapestry that concealed the little chamber they were hiding in. They would have to rejoin the battle soon and they knew they might not see each other again. Both of them were trying to prolong those few minutes in their little chamber.

"Padma," Parvati started. She seemed hesitant, as if she were steeling herself to say what was on her mind. "This might be the last time we see each other."

"Hey, don't say that," began Padma but Parvati held up a hand to silence her.

"No, listen," she said. "If I die, I don't want to have this weighing on my conscience. I don't want to die regretting that I kept a secret from my twin and never begged her forgiveness for what I did. "

Padma looked curious. Parvati continued, taking a deep breath. "You remember John Fletcher from fifth year?"

Padma nodded. How could she not remember John? She'd gone out with him for months before they'd broken up. He'd told everyone one of Padma's deepest secrets – a secret that only Padma's best friend, Lisa, and Parvati had known about - and she'd hated him after that. She'd believed Lisa had told John about it since she could never imagine her twin who was her closest friend, her other half, ever breaking her trust like that. She had never spoken to Lisa again.

"Yeah, I remember him. Why?" she said.

Parvati looked a little scared now. "I was the one who told him your secret."

Padma looked stunned. "You did WHAT?"

"I didn't mean to!" Parvati said quickly. "It was after Gryffindor won the Quidditch cup, you and I had just fought over something, we were having this party - I might've been a little drunk on the illegal alcohol they'd smuggled in - I didn't even realize what I was saying till it was too late."

"That's enough!" snapped Padma. Her world seemed to be spinning. "You betrayed my trust just because you were mad at me and stupid enough to get drunk! You've always been impetuous but can't you ever control yourself at least for me? Because of you, I lost my boyfriend and my best friend and you never thought to own up! Some Gryffindor you are. I hate you!"

She yanked the tapestry aside and ran back into the battle. Parvati just sat there, her ears ringing with her sister's last three words.

X-X-X

Padma sat beside the bed, her eyes on Parvati's closed ones. Padma's cheeks were stained with tear-tracks and she was cut and bruised but she sat there unmoving, her hand tightly clasping her sister's.

The last few hours had been a blur. She had watched Voldemort fall to the ground, dead at last. She had hugged her friends in delight. It had taken nearly an hour to extract herself from the mass of celebrating wizards and witches and look for her twin, so happy to be alive, to be able to celebrate with her sister to even remember their fight of just a few hours ago.

She remembered clearly the feeling of having the ground fall away as Neville told her gently that Parvati was among the first batch of wounded people they had shifted to St. Mungo's.

So here she was now, holding the hand of her unconscious twin, praying to every god she knew that Parvati would wake up. She kept remembering her last conversation with Parvati. How could she have been angry over something as stupid as a _boy_ when she had known she might never see her sister again? To make matters worse, her awful words kept coming back to her.

_"I hate you." _

That was the last thing she'd said to her twin.

She clearly remembered the only other time she'd ever spoken those words. It had been when they were eight years old...

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><p>"Can I eat it now?" Parvati asked her older (by twenty seven minutes!) sister.<p>

"No, it's not done yet," answered Padma. "And anyway, it's not for you, it's for the competition."

Parvati pouted. "Can't I have just one bite? It looks so tasty."

"It's not even done yet! No, you can't have any until after the competition." said Sarah, Padma's friend. The twins and Sarah were sitting at their stall in the village fair. Padma and Sarah had teamed up to take part in a baking competition for kids. They had made a chocolate cupcake and with Padma's mother's help, it was now baking away in the little oven behind the stall.

"Please, not even a tiny little crumb?" Parvati pleaded.

"No! I told you, it's for the competition. It's not supposed to be tasted by anyone before the judges try it. Mrs. Pole is a judge. I really admire her cooking and I want to ask her if I can help in her bakery next summer. She might let me if she likes this cake. So, you can't eat any until the judges have," Sarah said.

"But they may not leave any for me," Parvati complained.

"Leave us alone, Parvati. Sarah and I have to take care of our cupcake and make sure it doesn't burn," said Padma. She shoved her twin out from behind the stall. "Go look at all the other stalls. You know you can't have the cake until the judges come around. Find someone else to bother."

Parvati glared petulantly at Padma and Sarah as they chatted animatedly while peeking at their cake every few seconds to make sure it was alright. She scowled at Sarah as Padma laughed at something Sarah had just said. Ever since that stupid competition had been announced, Padma had always been with Sarah. They'd discussed patterns and icing and flavours and batter and everything cake related for the past week!

"It's always, _'Parvati, go away, we're discussing our cake,' _or _'Parvati, you're such a nuisance,' _or _'Parvati, can't you see we're talking about something serious? Go play outside._' They're acting so grown up. Padma's only twenty seven minutes older than me. She's my twin. How can she spend so much time with that perfect little Sarah?" Parvati muttered under her breath as she walked down the rows of stalls. True, Padma was the more bookish, quiet (rather boring, in Parvati's opinion) girl, but that was no excuse for her to ignore her twin. They were more than just twins, they were _best friends._ And yet, Padma had barely talked to her all week; it was all about Sarah and that beautiful cake!

Parvati stopped suddenly at the end of the row. A mischievous smile curved her lips.

She bought an ice cream from one of the stalls and made her way back to her sister. "Is it done yet?" she asked, looking over shoulder at something else. She bumped straight into Sarah, her ice cream falling all over the girl's shoes.

Sarah squealed. "Parvati! Can't you be more careful? Padma, keep an eye on the cake. I have to go find my mum and change my socks. They're cold and sticky!" She left hurriedly.

Padma sighed. "You really should be more careful, you know," she scolded her twin. "Why can't you slow down and look where you're going?"

Parvati looked down meekly. "I'm sorry. Will you buy me another ice cream? I've spent all the money mum gave me. I'll watch your cake. There's a stall just a bit down the row," she said, giving her twin the big, pleading eyes.

Padma sighed again. Even though they were twins, she and Parvati were very different and though they were born only a few minutes apart, she couldn't help thinking Parvati acted like she was years younger.

"Fine I'll get you an ice cream. Don't touch anything. Just watch the cake." Padma went off in search of the ice cream stall.

Parvati's eyes glinted with mischief as she peered into the oven. Her eyebrows scrunched together in concentration. She would show that Sarah. She'd never come between her and her twin again!

Soon, it was time for the judges to come around, tasting all the children's efforts. The twins' mother helped Padma and Sarah take their cupcake out. It looked just like a nice, tasty, chocolate cupcake. When the judges came to their stall, the two girls presented it to them proudly.

The judges took one bite and immediately spat it out into their napkins. "Honestly, girls," said one of them, "this is a baking contest, not a mud pie making contest." They swept away.

The girls looked confused. Sarah frowned and took a bite. She spat it out quickly. "This is mud!" she said.

"What? But we used chocolate, didn't we mum?" Padma asked, looking at her mother, bemused.

Before Mrs. Patil could answer however, Sarah started yelling at Padma. "You beast! I bet you put mud into the cake when I went to change my socks. I bet you told your sister to spill her ice cream on me too!"

"What? Why would I do that? We're a team. I wouldn't spoil my own cake," protested Padma.

"You would! You never got over me accidentally breaking your science project last month. I remember you promising me that day that you would get back at me. I bet you don't even care about this baking competition and you just signed up to make me look bad in front of Mrs. Pole," screamed Sarah. "I never want to see you again!" She stormed away.

Padma looked baffled. She was sure they had used chocolate in the cake. They couldn't possibly have used _mud _without noticing. And yet, the cake was made of mud. It was like magic. Magic…

She rounded on Parvati. "I left you alone with it for a few minutes. You did it then, didn't you? You creep! I bet you purposely dropped your ice cream and sent me to get another one. You must have used magic to turn the chocolate into mud," she hissed. "I worked so hard on that cake with Sarah. You know we did! You saw us planning all last week. You saw us take so much care to get everything just right and you ruined it all! I hate you!" she shouted at her sister. She ran away, sobbing.

Parvati looked shocked. She looked up at her mother who looked back at her sternly. "I didn't mean to upset her so much," she mumbled.

"Well, you did cross a line, Parvati. Why did you have to do that? You know how hard Padma and Sarah worked all week," her mother rebuked.

"She spends all her time with Sarah now! She's my twin; she's supposed to be _my _best friend. She hasn't even talked to me properly all last week. What if she decides Sarah's a better friend and never talks to me? I don't want her to be around Sarah."

Mrs. Patil sighed. "She's not always going to be around with you Parvati. What if you're at different houses at Hogwarts? Won't you let her make any friends there? She'll always be your friend but just not all the time."

Parvati looked sad and angry at the same time, but also thoughtful. She hadn't meant to make her sister so distressed. She had just wanted her sister back and now she'd pushed her away even more. A few minutes later, the judges stood on the little stage at the front of the rows of stalls. "Ladies and gentlemen, we've just finished judging the kids' baking contest. If you would all gather at the front, we'd like to announce the results," one of them announced.

Parvati noticed Padma in the crowd with their mother, her eyes red. She saw her glance at Sarah and saw the other girl look away scornfully. Parvati's eyes became determined. She went up to the stage.

"The results are as follows," began the judge called Mrs. Pole. She stopped as she felt a tug on her dress. She looked down to find Parvati standing there.

"Please, Mrs. Pole, can I say something first?" Parvati asked.

Mrs. Pole looked amused at the resolute expression on the little girl's face. "Here you go, dear," she said, handing the microphone to Parvati.

The little girl held it in both hands carefully before looking out at the crowd. "Hello, I'm Parvati Patil. My sister is Padma Patil. She's my twin. She was in the baking contest today with Sarah Mills. They worked really hard all week to make the perfect cake and I…I spoiled everything." She took a deep breath and looked at Sarah. "Sarah, I was jealous of you for spending so much time with my sister. She hasn't been playing or talking to me much because she was busy with the contest but I thought she wouldn't speak to me again because she had you for a friend. I purposely dropped my ice cream on you and when you were gone, I sent Padma to buy an ice cream for me and I put the mud into the cake then. I'm sorry."

She looked up at the judges. "They're really good at baking. Sarah wants to help you next summer, Mrs. Pole. Please let her. She's a very good baker. I'm sure that cake would have tasted very nice if I hadn't put mud in it." She turned back to Sarah. "Please stay friends with Padma. It's my fault you lost the competition, not hers." She looked directly at Padma who was staring at her, stunned. "Padma, I'm very, very sorry. I didn't mean to upset you so much. I won't be a brat anymore." She hesitated. "I won't even mind if you want to spend all your time with Sarah.

"I'm sorry. Please tell everyone who won now," she told Mrs. Pole, handing the microphone back to the judge. She clambered carefully off the stage and walked back towards her mother and sister.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled again, when she reached Padma. "You're my sister and I want you to be my friend, but I want you to be happy more."

"I am pretty mad at you, you know," Padma said. "I don't make friends as easily as you and you might have scared off the only one I had."

"I know. I'm sorry."

Padma suddenly hugged her. Parvati looked surprised. "Sarah was mean enough to blame me and she even thought I'd spoil our cake to get back at her for something. If you were my partner and Sarah was the one who'd put mud in our cake, I bet she wouldn't have gone up there and owned up in front of everyone. I don't care how many friends I lose as long as I have you. I'm to blame too. I _have_ been ignoring you a lot this week because I wanted to win this contest so much. Everyone likes you because you're good at outdoor stuff and they think I'm just good at reading and things like that so I wanted to prove to everyone that I can do something different too. I guess that was more important to me than you. You're my sister but you're also my best friend. I'm sorry for making you feel left out."

Parvati hugged her back tightly, crying. "I'm so very, very sorry! I promise I'll never hurt you again like that! I'm so glad you're still my best friend. I just hope you won't ever stop being my friend because I'm sure to do plenty of other stupid things to you. But I promise: you can always count on me. I'll be your friend even if the whole world hates you."

"I know you will. Come on; let's go get some real chocolate cake."

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><p>"Doesn't look like I can count on you now," Padma muttered angrily. Parvati really was the only proper friend she had ever had. She had been the one constant presence in her life and now she might lose her forever.<p>

"Of course you can. I promised you that you could always count on me when we were eight, didn't I?" croaked Parvati, squinting at her.

Padma stared at her twin for a moment, not believing that she was really awake and alive. She suddenly shrieked and hugged her sister. "You idiot! I thought you were going to die and the last thing I told you was that I hated you and I'm so sorry for that and I thought I might never get to tell you – "

"Well I might die of suffocation if you don't let go of me now," joked Parvati, cutting across her twin's babbling.

Padma let go of her immediately. "I'm sorry. I love you and I don't care how many friends or boyfriends I lose because of you or anyone else as long as you're always going to be my best friend."

"I'm sorry too, what I did was stupid," Parvati admitted. "I'm glad you still want to keep being my friend after all the stupid things I've done that have hurt you over the years."

Padma winked. "Hey, you might be obnoxious at the best of times but remember that having a sister is like having a best friend you can't get rid of. You know whatever you do, I'll still be there."

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><p><strong>In case anyone got confused, the part of the story between the two horizontal lines was a flashback Padma had about the incident that happened when they were eight years old. I didn't want to put it in italics since it was most of the story. <strong>

**This was written for ephemereis' "The 'I Hate You' Competition". **

**The rest of this story will be a series of oneshots about various siblings although there might be more competition entries among the chapters. None of the oneshots will be connected.**

**Please review and let me know what you thought! Feedback is always appreciated :)**


	3. Checkmate

**Disclaimer : I don't own HP**

**Read and review :)  
><strong>

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><p>Louis Weasley hated Christmas. Well, he didn't actually hate the holiday; he hated the family dinner. Every Christmas, the entire Weasley clan gathered at the Burrow. A lot of people thought he was so lucky to have so many aunts and uncles. Louis didn't agree. With the number of kids running around, the Burrow was chaotic and messy.<p>

But Louis was okay with all of that. He could always manage to find a quiet corner for himself amidst all the chaos. No, the thing Louis really hated about Christmas was that he would have to meet Fred Weasley.

Fred was the bane of Louis' existence. Every opportunity Fred had, he pranked him. From tricks as simple as a Puking Pastille slipped in his food to the elaborate jumping books prank, Louis has been the victim of them all.

It wasn't that Fred hated him or had any spiteful feelings towards him. No, that, Louis could handle. Fred just pranked him because he was an easy target. He pranked him because he didn't consider Louis to be Weasley enough. He thought Louis was the Weasley oddball.

Well, to be fair, he was right.

Louis was the_ only _Weasley with blonde hair. He was the only Weasley who preferred to play chess rather than Quidditch. He liked reading quietly while everyone else chatted. He studied more than Molly did and she was Percy's daughter! He was the only Weasley to be sorted into Ravenclaw and not Gryffindor. He was the only left-handed Weasley. Yet, his cousins did not see him as unique; they just found him weird.

Most of his cousins left him alone. They didn't talk to him much during family reunions or even at Hogwarts. They didn't include him in their games and plans unless it was a family thing or he asked to join in. No one except his sisters really treated him like he was part of the family. Even Teddy was more like family to the others and he wasn't even related to them!

But Fred never left him alone. He never lost a chance to make fun of him and it didn't help that Louis reacted angrily every time. Far from feeling guilty, Louis' anger only seemed to encourage Fred.

So it was with a heavy heart that fourteen-year-old Louis picked up his chessboard that Christmas at the Burrow and stepped out of the room that he was sharing with James and Fred. He smiled when he saw Roxanne waiting for him at the foot of the stairs.

Of all his cousins, Roxanne was the only one who didn't treat him as an outcast. Ironic, really, considering she was Fred's sister. She found Louis to be rather sweet and since she had also grown up being subjected to her brother's pranks (until she started pranking him back) she sympathized with Louis.

Soon, Roxanne and Louis were tucked away in a quiet corner, leaning over the chessboard.

"Has Fred pranked you yet today?" Roxanne asked, mulling over her next move.

"Twice already," Louis grumbled.

"And I suppose he just pranked you on the spur of the moment?"

"As usual."

"You know, he doesn't mean any harm. He told me actually likes you. He's just trying to get you to join in the fun instead of spending your time with your nose in a book."

"But I like reading! I'm not like the rest of you. I like being by myself," protested Louis. "Besides, everyone thinks I'm boring anyway."

"That's because you never let anyone see the Weasley in you. You don't show them how stubborn you are or that you actually have a great sense of humour. You never let them see you fly and you're so good at flying too! You never let them see you the way I do," Roxanne said exasperatedly.

"I wish I could just prank Fred. Then he'd leave me alone and everyone else will see I'm capable of having fun too," Louis admitted.

"Well, why don't you?" Roxanne asked.

Louis stared at her. "Are you kidding? I'm not the least bit as impulsive as him. I can't just drop a dozen Dungbombs on him or fill his sleeping bag with Chocolate Frogs and get away with it!"

Roxanne looked at the chessboard thoughtfully. "You should play to your strengths. You have to use something your good at to make your prank effective."

"My only strengths are reading and chess."

Roxanne frowned at him. "My dad always says that a good prankster is one plans well, not one who just _acts_. See, pranking is a lot like chess. While your opponent blunders around obviously with their queen, _you_ move your pieces to get him right where you want him and then -"

"Checkmate," smiled Louis, cornering Roxanne's king with his knight.

"Exactly! Pranksters aren't all loud and obvious like Fred and James. They can also be subtle and sneaky. Only the actual prank itself is attention-grabbing. The victim won't know what hit them. _That_ kind of prank takes quite some planning - something you happen to be good at."

Louis smiled. "A carefully planned prank..."

X-X-X

Two hours later, the noise level in the house had decreased somewhat. The adults had all gone out and the cousins were all lazing around in their rooms after a rather heavy Christmas lunch.

"Fred!" Louis called from the foot of the stairs.

Several teenagers poked their heads out of their rooms including Fred. "What do you want?" he asked.

"You've pranked me too many times. Since you won't stop if I just ask you to, I want to make a deal." Louis replied.

Fred raised an eyebrow. "What did you have in mind?"

"A game. If you lose, you stop pranking me forever."

"I can win any game. Why don't you choose? It'll at least give you a tiny chance of winning if you choose something you're good at," Fred announced.

Louis fought to keep the smile off his face. Fred had behaved so predictably. The first move in this metaphorical chess game had been perfect. He couldn't ruin it. _"Keep a poker face at all times,"_ Roxanne had told him. _"A prank is a success only when the victim has no idea he's falling into a trap."_ "I pick chess," he said confidently.

"Wrong choice, Louis. I've been taught chess by Uncle Ron," Fred boasted.

"Let's play in the living room," Louis suggested.

Fred shrugged. "Everyone can watch you lose." he strode down and into the living room. All the other cousins followed curiously. What _was _Louis thinking? Why was he condemning himself to a lifetime of being pranked?

Louis maintained his poker face as Fred faced Roxanne whose fists were closed. Fred pointed to her right fist. She uncurled her fingers to reveal a black king. "Good luck," she told her brother, handing him the black piece.

At the same time, she discreetly slipped the spare _black_ king in her other hand into her pocket and pulled out the _white_ king from the same pocket. She threw it to Louis casually. "Good luck."

Louis smiled mentally. Pranking really was like chess. He had wanted Fred to get the black piece so that he would be in position for the prank. The little trick with the pieces had worked perfectly. "Check," he thought smugly as Fred took his seat behind the black pieces. His poker face didn't waver for a moment.

The game started. The Burrow was completely silent as the two boys moved their pieces around the board. Louis' expression remained neutral through the game. Fred's, on the other hand, grew increasingly worried.

Suddenly, Fred looked triumphant. "Check!" he declared, moving his queen quickly.

For the first time that evening, Louis smiled broadly. He kicked the makeshift lever Roxanne had helped him set up under the table. Immediately, the trapdoor they'd rigged up in the ceiling with a little magical help from Victoire snapped open. A huge mound of snow fell right on Fred, covering him completely. Louis pulled a carrot from his pocket and stuck it where Fred's nose had been before t disappeared under the snow.

"Checkmate." Louis smugly knocked over Fred's queen with his bishop. All his cousins stared for a moment and then burst into laughter at the sight of Fred who now resembled a snowman complete with carrot nose.

Fred managed to drag his hands out of the snow and wipe his face. He stood up, shaking off the snow and joined in the laughter once he caught sight of his face in the mirror one of the girls produced.

He suddenly looked grim as he walked around to Louis. "I suppose you planned all this?"

"With a little help," Louis admitted, glancing at a grinning Roxanne.

Fred broke into a smile. "Seems like you're more of a Weasley than I thought!" He held out his hand. "Sorry about all the pranks. Maybe we can pull one together soon?"

Louis grinned and shook hands. "Sure."

"Let's get planning once I change. I'm freezing!" Fred said, hurrying out of the room.

"Nice one, Louis." James patted him on the back.

"That was perfect," grinned Roxanne.

"Well done!"

"That was fun."

Louis beamed as all his cousins crowded around him, talking and laughing. For the first time, Louis felt like he was one of them, like he was part of the family.

He finally felt like he was a Weasley.

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><p><strong>This was for Macbeth Mouse's "Welcome to the Next-Generation" Competition.<strong>

**Again, it's not really a story I was very happy with, it felt a little rushed. I might come back and rewrite it someday when I have the time...**

**Please review! It would really make my day! I barely got any reviews last time!  
><strong>


	4. Magical Creatures

**Disclaimer : I don't own HP**

**Read and review :)**

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><p>Teddy snatched the scissors out of Lorcan's hand. "You're supposed to cut <em>paper<em> with those, Lorcan, not your brother's hair," he said exasperatedly. "No Lysander, _fold _the cardboard, don't shred it." Teddy's hair was a strained orange from the effort of babysitting the six-year-old Scamander twins. "Here we go," said Teddy, Spellotaping two pieces of cardboard together. "Here is your very own periscope."

Lorcan and Lysander crowded around him as he showed them how to use it. "Can we fill up the bathtub and try it in there, Teddy?" Lorcan asked, fascinated.

"Er…it's not really waterproof, Lorcan. Besides, you can use it on dry land too." He pushed Lysander to the other end of the room and handed Lorcan the homemade periscope. "Go under the table and look through the periscope," he instructed.

"Hey I can see Ly!" Lorcan exclaimed from under the table. "I can see his face from here even though he's not in front of me!"

"We can use it to find magical animals. We can be magizoos," grinned Lysander.

"Magizoologists," corrected Teddy. "Yeah, you can be just like your mum and dad."

Right on cue, the fireplace turned green as Luna and Rolf Scamander appeared in it.

"Mum look, we made a periscope," Lorcan said immediately, pronouncing the word carefully just like Teddy had taught him.

"That's lovely dear. I hope you didn't trouble Teddy too much," Luna said, smiling at him.

"They're no trouble, Luna. Just a tad enthusiastic," Teddy said.

Luna nodded as her sons showed their father their new periscope. She put some coins into Teddy's hand. "Here you are Teddy. I do hope you'll have enough to buy a Wrackspurt siphon by the end of summer. You could really use one." She flapped at Teddy's head.

Teddy tried not to look offended as he stepped into the Floo. "Bye Luna, Rolf. See you next Sunday, kids," he called as the fire whisked him away.

"Look Lorcan, Lysander, we found some lovely Jobberknoll feathers," Luna told them as she pulled the brightly coloured feathers out of her bag.

"Oh and there are some wonderful pictures too," Rolf added, taking off his backpack.

Lorcan and Lysander settled around their parents admiring the pretty pictures and the feathers of all the scenery but not really understanding what they were saying about the magical beasts they'd found. "Why can't you find magical animals here, Dad? Why do you always have to go away?" Lorcan asked after a while.

"Well we don't think there are any more special creatures to be found here. That's why we have to keep going to Norway," replied Rolf.

"Why can't you take us with you?" Lysander asked. "We miss you when you go away for so long."

"You're too young, Ly. Maybe when you're both older, you can come with us," Rolf told him patiently.

"Mum, did you get us the Knarl toys?" Lorcan asked suddenly, remembering the quaint little toys he'd seen in Diagon Alley.

Luna looked guilty. "Oh dear! I forgot again Lorcan," she admitted.

The twins looked at her. "But this is the fourth time you didn't get it!" complained Lorcan.

"I know, Lorcan. We were tracking a new creature and we got lost in our work. It completely slipped my mind when we came back."

"But you _promised_ you'd get it!" Lysander protested, his eyes filing with tears.

Rolf intervened quickly. "We'll make it up to you boys. _I'll_ get it myself tomorrow. You two look tired. Why don't you get to bed?" He led them upstairs and tucked them in.

"Will Mum come and read us a story?" Lorcan asked.

"Not tonight, Lorcan. You know we've travelled back here from Norway. You know it's very far away. Mummy's tired tonight. She has to go to Romania the day after tomorrow too, remember? She needs to rest. Go to sleep now."

"Mum hasn't read to us for a week," Lysander sniffed when Rolf was gone. "Mum and Dad haven't even been home for three days."

"_And_ she forgot our toys," Lorcan whispered angrily. He didn't like it when their parents left them with one of their friends. All the Weasleys and Potters got to stay with their parents all the time. Why did their Mum and Dad have to keep going away? He saw Harry Potter getting Lily whatever she wanted the day she asked for it. But their parents couldn't remember to bring them a toy they'd asked for four times already!

"Do you think they don't love us anymore?" Lysander asked quietly. "What if they like their magical animals more and they don't want to be with us? Is that why they keep going away?"

Lorcan looked worried at this thought but he put a comforting arm around his brother. "I don't know, Ly."

Lysander soon fell asleep, but Lorcan was still worried. What if Lysander was right and their parents _didn't_ love them? What if they made him go away so that the Crumple-Snorky they kept talking about could live in their room? Where would they live if they were sent away? What would they eat? Lorcan dozed off slowly, his dreams full of shapeless creatures pushing the two brothers out of their home.

The next morning, after breakfast, Rolf called the two boys into his study. Lorcan put on a brave face for his brother. "Don't worry, Ly. If they tell us to go away, I'll take care of you," he whispered encouragingly.

"Come here, boys." Rolf beckoned them to his desk. They went closer and saw that he was holding a small round object. "Your mother and I feel bad about forgetting your toys so here's a little gift to make up for it. This is a compass. Muggles use it to find out which direction they're going in," he explained. "Do you remember me teaching you about the directions last month? The needle always points north. You see Pebbled Peak over there?" He pointed to a large spire of rock in the middle of a small forest visible from his window. The boys nodded. "If you ever get lost in the forest, just go to the bottom of the Peak and walk in the direction the needle points from there. Our house is exactly north of the Peak."

The two boys nodded again. Rolf gave them the compass and they walked out of his study, examining it. Lorcan was relieved that they hadn't been told to leave the house. Suddenly, he had an idea.

"Listen, Ly. We can use our periscope and this compass to find a magical animal. Then mum and dad won't want to send us away because we'll be good magizoos just like them. They'll take us with them wherever they go."

Lysander looked doubtful. "Do you really think so? But mum never lets us go out alone. Where do we find a magical animal?"

"We have to face danger," Lorcan replied seriously. "That's what Dad says about good magizoos, remember? Mum will go to her room soon. We can sneak out of the kitchen window."

So when Luna went up to her room, just like Lorcan had predicted, the twins slipped into the kitchen, picked up a packet each of biscuits and crisps and climbed out the kitchen window.

"Eww. Lorcan, my feet are all muddy," whined Lysander as he landed in the wet, sticky mud outside the window.

"Shh, not so loud!" Lorcan snapped, tugging his brother along. They went to the back of the house. A small, but dense forest grew some distance away and the tall Pebbled Peak stood in the middle of it.

"Where do we find magical animals?" Lysander wondered, peering around him.

"In there, of course," Lorcan answered, pointing to the forest.

"We can't go in there! Mum's told us not to. We'll be eaten by monsters!"

"Monsters only come out at night. Nothing will eat us in the morning."

"I'm _not _going in there. I don't want to be eaten," Lorcan said firmly.

"Fine then. I'll soon be sharing a room with the Crumple – Snorky instead of you."

Lysander whimpered at that thought but trudged after Lorcan into the forest.

"It's not too far to the Peak. Remember, we can get home from there. We just have to stay on the path," Lorcan assured his brother. Soon, the path forked. "Which way should we go, Ly?"

Lysander looked at the Peak, one hand shading his eyes just like he'd seen their father do when he was gauging distances. "Right, I think," he said.

Lorcan confidently took the right hand path. "Lorcan, wait! What if I'm wrong? How will we find the Peak then?" Lysander called, running behind him.

"We'll just walk back the same way," shrugged Lorcan.

A twig snapped loudly on their left.

Lysander clutched his twin, eyes darting between the trees. "What was that?" he whispered.

"I don't know," Lorcan whispered back, looking scared.

"What if it's something that's going to eat us? We can't even do magic," moaned Lysander.

Lorcan stood very still, trying not to panic. _"Don't be scared, you'll only scare Ly. You're the strong one. You're the brave one,"_ he thought to himself. They stood completely still, waiting for whatever the creature was to show itself.

A Crup emerged from the foliage. Lorcan held on to Lysander tightly, not daring to move. The Crup gave them an appraising look and then bounded away. Both boys sighed in relief.

"See, there's nothing to be afraid of. Come on, Ly!" Lorcan said, trying to hide the fact that he was shaking.

"No." Lysander was still rooted to the spot. "I'm going home. I'll live with Teddy if mum and dad don't want me. I won't be eaten."

"Don't be such a baby, Ly. We'll be okay. Now, come on."

"No!"

Lorcan looked at him. "Look, I'm going to keep searching till I find a magical animal. You can go and live with Teddy, but wouldn't you rather live with me? I'm your twin."

Lysander looked away. "I want to live with you."

"Then you have to come with me. Don't worry so much, I won't let anything eat you."

"How?"

Lorcan picked up a short stick, about the length of his little arm. "I'll hit it with this, see?" he said.

Lysander looked skeptical but he followed Lorcan down the path. They hadn't gone much farther when something bright green darted across the path. "Did you see that? I bet it's a magical animal!" Lorcan exclaimed. He dropped the stick and ran into the woods after it.

"Lorcan, you have to stay on the path!" Lysander shouted. He hesitated and then ran after his twin. Lorcan chased after the green creature which he realized soon, was some sort of bird. He stumbled over tree roots and vaguely registered Lysander shouting behind him but he kept his eyes fixed on the green blur flitting between the trees. He was running as fast as his short legs could carry him, but he was tiring quickly. He was relieved when the bird finally settled into a nest on a tree jut ahead. He stopped too.

Lysander caught up to him, panting. "Look, Ly! I bet mum and dad haven't seen that bird before!" he said excitedly.

Lysander didn't seem quite as enthused. "Lorcan," he said, looking around. "Where are we?"

Lorcan didn't hear him. He was already climbing up the tree. "Be careful," called Lysander as Lorcan reached for the thorny nest. Lorcan winced as his fingers brushed the prickly nest and the bird retreated, its eyes fixed on him. "I can't get to it," he complained, grabbing at the bird. It squawked and flapped at him.

"Lorcan, wait. You're scaring it." Lysander took out a biscuit. "Here, birdie. Here's a nice little treat for you." The bird regarded them suspiciously as Lorcan joined his twin on the ground. "Here you go, bird. It's tasty," Lysander coaxed, waving the biscuit at the bird. It swopped down and settled on his shoulder suddenly, snatching the biscuit from his fingers.

"Good job, Ly! Now we just have to get back home," praised Lorcan.

Lysander faced him, half angry and half scared. "Which way _is _home?"

Lorcan looked around properly for the first time. The forest was much darker here. The trees were thicker and closer together and long shadows fell on the ground. He had no idea where the path was. "Let's…let's have some biscuits, Ly. It must nearly be lunchtime," he stammered, stalling for time while he thought of how to get back. "We can still see the Peak from here. We'll just find our way there and then use the compass to get home."

Lysander nodded slowly. His big brother would take him home somehow. They sat down, sharing their food with the bird. It had taken a liking to Lysander, never leaving his shoulder.

"Lorcan, what if mum and dad never notice we're not at home?" Lysander said after a while.

"Well then, we'll find our way back on our own and show them we're good magizoos. They'll never think about sending us away then," replied Lorcan. Despite his brave exterior, he was as worried as Lysander. Though they were only born a few minutes apart, Lorcan had always been bold and outgoing and thought of his softer, shy twin as his little brother; as his responsibility. What it, because of him, they never made it home? This was all his idea in the first place. It was probably well past lunchtime now. Soon it would be dark.

A sudden cry split the silence. "Children? Where are you?"

The twins looked at each other. "Mum?"

X-X-X

"Rolf, have you seen the kids? It's nearly lunchtime and I can't find them anywhere in the house," Luna said. She looked rather worried.

"I don't think I've seen them since I gave them the compass in the morning," replied Rolf. "Wait, I _did_ see them in the backyard earlier. I thought you were watching them.

Luna ran down Rolf right behind her. They rushed out to the yard, but the twins weren't there. "Luna, look." Rolf was standing by the kitchen window. "Footprints. They lead to the gate."

"Oh no," whispered Luna. "Rolf, I think they've gone into the forest."

Rolf ran in and returned quickly. "I've sent a message to Harry asking him to send someone here in case they come back," he explained. "Come on, let's find them."

X-X-X

"_What_ could have made them enter the forest alone?" Luna muttered. She and Rolf had been wandering around in the forest for an hour now and there was no trace of the children. "We really must get rid of the Wrackspurts. They must have confused the boys. They know better than to wander in here."

"Maybe we should go to Pebbled Peak. I showed them how to get home from there," suggested Rolf. "They're clever boys. They understood how to use the compass this morning." Luna nodded.

"Children? Where are you?"

Luna and Rolf turned to their right, in the direction of the voice. They looked at each other, faces full of horror.

"Erkling," they said together. It was imperative they find their kids quickly now…before they got eaten.

X-X-X

Lorcan and Lysander stumbled towards the voice calling repeatedly for them. They were tired and rather hungry. Biscuits and crisps weren't enough for a pair of growing boys. They just wanted to find their mother and show her the bird they'd found. They followed the sound of the voice; it sounded just like their mother.

"There you are kids!"

"Mum's here," murmured Lysander gleefully, hearing the voice just ahead. He ran forward.

"Lysander, look out!" Lorcan yelled. He tackled his brother to the ground. Claws shot out of the bushes Lysander had been heading towards and just missed them as they fell. Lorcan got up quickly and dragged Lysander away. The green bird settled on Lysander's shoulder again, squawking indignantly at the bush.

"Why children, aren't you happy to see me?" A monster stepped out of the bushes, speaking in the gentle voice they'd been following. They both stood paralyzed, clutching each other as the creature lunged at them.

"Stupefy!" The spell hit the monster in the face and it fell backwards. "Lorcan! Lysander!"

The twins turned around to find their parents running towards them. Luna took their hands. "Hurry!" she said, pulling them away from the Erkling. The Scamanders ran out of the trees, each parent carrying one of the twins. Soon, they were back on the path and out of the forest.

Luna sank to her knees and hugged them both. "Oh thank Merlin you're alright!" she cried.

"We were so worried. Why did you two go into that forest alone?" demanded Rolf, looking extremely thankful.

"We found a new magical animal for you," Lorcan answered, pointing at the green bird now flying above them.

"That's just an Augurey, dear. They're quite common here," Luna said.

The twins' faces fell immediately. "So you _will_ give your room to the Crumple – Snorky then. You won't want us anymore," sniffed Lysander. Luna and Rolf looked blank.

"What are you talking about? Why wouldn't we want you?" Rolf asked.

"That's why you keep going away, isn't it? That's why you keep leaving us and forgetting to bring us our toys. You love the magical animals more than us. That's why we wanted to bring you a new animal so that you'd think we were good magizoos too and love us," said Lorcan.

"Oh Lorcan, that's not true. We love you and we always will. We have to travel so much because we want to find new creatures and write about them all in a book so that little boys like you can read about them. We may forget to bring you toys or send an owl when we're away sometimes, but that doesn't mean we forget _you_." Luna stroked his head. "We love both of you far more than any other creature we find!"

"That's true. We always take a picture of you two wherever we go. The Crumple – Horned Snorkack means a lot less to us than you two do," agreed Rolf.

"Sometimes," said Luna, putting her arms around her sons, "we don't want to go in search of any magical creatures at all. We think that you two are the most special, most magical little creatureswe've ever met_." _

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><p><strong>I hope I didn't make Luna and Rolf come across as bad parents. I think that they would be rather like the stereotyped genius - they would probably be a little forgetful and absent-minded, always chasing after some magical creature or other...<strong>

**This was for WeasleySeeker****'s Early Childhood Competition.**

**Please review and let me know what you thought :)  
><strong>


	5. My Role Model

**I guess this chapter doesn't really belong in a story meant for siblings and best friends, but I really didn't want to add it as another oneshot, so here it is instead!**

**Disclaimer : I don't own HP. **

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><p>"I'm going to marry Rudolph Rook," said Elain dreamily. "Mother says I'm to be engaged in two years' time."<p>

"You'll only be eleven. My mother won't hear of a betrothal until I'm thirteen" said Hera, another little girl in the group of nine-year-olds seated primly in the classroom. There was a hint of envy in her voice.

"Well, my mother thinks I'm quite older than my age. She thinks I'm already quite like her and I do want to be _just_ like her," Elain replied, a superior look on her face.

A girl being engaged at thirteen or fourteen was not uncommon in their time, but to be so at eleven was a real honour! It showed you to be mature and responsible - to be a young woman. And that was very important of course, it made you all grown up, just like your mother. All good girls wanted to be like their mothers.

"Will you have your own handkerchiefs then?" asked Joanna.

"Of course. Mother thinks my sewing is far better than the maid's. She's buying me some lace next week so I can start embroidering my initials onto them and get enough practice. It wouldn't do for a young woman to not know how to sew well," said Elain.

"You're so lucky Elain!"

"Yes, it's just like a fairytale."

The girls spoke quickly, excitedly. To think that soon, they might be invited to a party by Mrs. Elain Rook! They might meet their own prospective husbands there! Then they too would be just like their mothers.

"I'm certain we'll find our own princes soon, don't you think so, Hera? I know Mary's family is already considering a match for her. Hildegard's most likely to marry her brother-in-law, he's only four years older than her," said Greta. "Can you imagine, in merely five years at the most, we'll be hosting out own tea parties. It's most exciting; don't you think so, Helena?"

All the girls turned to the small bronze haired lass sitting apart from the others in the room. She had her nose buried in a book. While all the other girls sat starchily, careful not to get their uniforms creased, the girl called Helena didn't seem to care. Her skirt was soiled and her blouse seemed to have grease on it. A little stick-house stood on the table beside her, held together only by the power of equilibrium.

She raised her beautiful sapphire eyes at being addressed. "My mother says I don't have to be engaged unless I want to."

"Well, _don't_ you?" Hera asked incredulously.

"I think there's plenty of time for it yet. I just want to learn things now, like my mother does," Helena answered.

"Oh that's not the truth, is it Helena?" Elain asked spitefully. She had never liked the quaint little girl. Frankly, Helena scared Elain. There was just something too different about her. "You say you don't want to get engaged because you know no man would ever want you. You're so dowdy, with your hair always tied back and your sloppy clothes. You can't sew or cook or paint or do any household chores. Knowledge is for men. We women need only to know how to run a house."

Elain's scorn was no surprise, despite her youth. She was after all, like every good little rich girl, schooled in the ideologies of male chauvinism.

"That's not true. My mother says wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," Helena said staunchly.

"You see, it's _man's_ greatest treasure. _You_ are just a silly little child. It's time that you grew up. You don't want to end up like your mother, do you? You don't want to be so shabby and unladylike, no man will ever have you," Elain said loftily.

Helena slammed her book shut and stormed out of the room. "Don't slouch, darling, it's quite unbecoming." Elain's voice and the others' giggles reached her ears and she sped up. The other girls were always mean to her. They didn't like her because she wasn't like them. But how dare Elain say such nasty things about her mother - the woman Helena looked up to?

Helena hurried down the corridors of the convent. She hated the place. She hated having to learn so much about things she didn't think we're necessary. She hated the free hours they were given to pursue their hobbies. Elain's hobby seemed to be making fun of Helena. She wished it would be five soon and she could go home.

"...yes, I heard Edgar left Rowena because of that." Helena stopped abruptly at sound of her mother's name. The younger nuns were grouped in the room to her right and the door was ajar.

"She's a rather eccentric lady, Miss Ravenclaw. She dresses well only for fancy parties; otherwise she walks around the village in such worn out clothes. She does all the things that only men do too. No wonder Edgar couldn't stay with her. What man would want an unkempt, opinionated wife?" someone said.

"It's a good thing she's the only daughter of old Sir Ravenclaw. Otherwise she wouldn't have any money or honour left. But she is squandering the family wealth on knowledge. Why does she want to learn so much anyway?" asked another.

"I don't know. And what of her daughter? I hope she doesn't grow up to be like her mother. She's an odd child, doesn't want to be like the others at all."

Helena walked away. She was _odd_. She was _childish_. She didn't want to be a princess. She suddenly didn't know if she wanted to be like her mother anymore. Would she never have friends if she stayed the way she was?

It was only half past two but Helena slipped out the back doors. She just wanted to go home. She let herself into the little cottage with the key her mother had made for her. Rowena wasn't home; she was probably with her friends, Sir Godric or Miss Helga.

Helena ran to her room. It was filled with books and little models. There was a mechanical butterfly, a wooden pyramid made of interlocking pieces all balanced perfectly and so many other little contraptions among loose nuts and bolts.

It hadn't bothered her before but Helena knew her classmates' rooms were probably full of clothes and paint and dolls that they dressed up and combed and played mother to. Their cupboards would be full of pretty dressed while hers only held the plain plaid clothes her mother made for her. Her room was this way because her mother encouraged her to keep it so. But did she want to do what her mother said anymore?

Helena was seized with the desire to be like the other girls. She wanted to have friends and if that meant she had to be like them, then so be it. She ran to her mother's room and slipped into one of the long, lovely dresses Rowena wore only to parties. She pulled her hair free of its plait. She picked up the box of colours her mother applied on her face when she was trying to look nice. She returned to her room and swept her inventions off her small desk and pulled out the only colouring book she had, magic refilling the pots of long dried paint...

Rowena frowned when she saw Helena's boots by the door. It was much too early for the girl to be home. "Helena?" she called. "Are you home?"

A muffled scream reached her ears. She rushed to Helena's room, wand drawn. She pushed the door open to find a...mess.

"Helena," she cried, rushing to the girl in the center of the room. The desk and floor were covered in paints and sheets upon sheets of painted pictures. Nuts and screws and pieces of her contraptions lay all around.

The girl herself was a mess. The overlong red dress that Rowena recognized as her own was spattered with paint. Helena's long hair was tangled and bushy. Her face had awkward smears of the red powder and paste Rowena used as makeup. Her eyes were waveringly lined with black paste. Worst of all, she was sobbing her heart out.

Rowena put her wand away and settled down on the floor next to her daughter. She pulled the little girl onto her lap and hugged her close, stroking her hair soothingly. Helena immediately cuddled into her mother, her sobs subsiding slowly.

"What's wrong, Helena?" Rowena murmured.

"Everyone's mean to me because I don't look like a princess and I'm not like them," Helena hiccupped.

"What do you mean?" Rowena frowned.

"In the convent, the nuns take away all the things I make if it's not sewn or painted. Marianne makes fun of me because I read so much. Elain - Elain told me I'm a child and I'll never get engaged because I'm not pretty or ladylike. She said I shouldn't want to be like you because my husband won't be with me like father isn't with you anymore.

"Even the nuns said father didn't want to stay with us because you wanted to learn and you didn't bother to dress up properly all the time. They think I'm odd. I don't want to be odd, mother, I want to be like the other girls and have friends and be engaged and grown up. I don't want to learn if I have to be alone!" Helena poured out everything that had been bothering her, all the insecurities that had been building up in her for a long time.

"Oh, Helena, don't you listen to a _word_ your classmates or the nuns say! I know all those girls' mothers and unfortunately, they're bringing up their children the way they were brought up - to believe that men can be smart while women just sit at home and cater to their husband's needs."

"But if that's what everyone thinks, isn't it true?"

Rowena put her arms around her daughter. She pulled a few of the painted pictures close to her. A man in the village made these books. He painstakingly drew every picture and bound them to make a book. Rowena liked him, he was very intelligent.

"Did you have fun painting these?"

Helena shook her head.

"But you have fun making your models, don't you?"

"Of course!"

"That's just it! You shouldn't do what everyone does if it doesn't make you happy. You should do whatever makes you smile and puts that twinkle in your eye. All your friends have been taught to do as they're told and learn only those things that they will need as housewives. They've been taught that growing up is all about making a man happy. They've been taught to colour inside the lines." Rowena traced the paint spilling out of the outlines on every single picture. "But you, Helena, aren't afraid to venture out of the lines. You're smart enough to be different."

"I'm smart? I'm not odd?" Helena asked.

"You aren't odd; you just like to learn different things. Everything imparts knowledge, even sewing and painting. But you should pursue that knowledge which catches your imagination, not just because you're told to learn it. People don't like what is not normal. Men don't like me very much because they are too proud to admit that I'm intelligent. Perhaps in a few years, their attitudes will change. Until then, everyone will find it strange that men don't take precedence in our lives. You're a witch. You're special and you are destined to be much more than just another wife. Don't try to be acceptable for society and let your brains go to waste. Wait for _them_ to be worthy of _you_."

Helena smiled at her mother. "It's really okay to be clever then?"

Rowena nodded.

"Then I want to be just like you when I grow up."

"That's the spirit." Rowena did feel a little guilty. Maybe she _had_ been depriving her daughter of a few normal girl things in her effort to bring her up as a woman who was more intelligent and independent than any man and knew it. She just didn't want her little girl to go through the pain of getting married because society demanded it. She didn't want Helena to be forced to give up her passions for a man whose pride would not allow a woman to me smarter than him. She didn't want Helena to go through the humiliation that she had because her husband left her on account of her dreams and goals. She didn't want her only daughter to go through the painful, constrained life she herself had led.

But maybe, once in a while, it was okay to give her daughter what all the other girls had. Maybe sometimes, it was okay to bring out the inner fairytale loving side of Helena; of every girl.

Rowena pulled Helena to her feet. "Come on, Helena; let's see why you can't be a princess." She picked up her boxes of makeup and led the child into her room.

She stood the nine-year-old in front of the mirror and pulled out her wand. She waved it and the red dress shrunk to fit Helena perfectly. She added lace and frills to the dress. She brushed her daughter's bronze hair, smoothing it out. She got the paint off the dress and Helena's face, adding just the hint of pink to her face an outlining her striking sapphire eyes with black. Finally she turned Helena around to face the mirror.

Helena gasped at her reflection as her mother placed a tiara on her head. "There," said Rowena, "Who says you can't look like a princess?"

Helena frowned at the engraving on the tiara: wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure. She took it off, put a little of the black paste on her finger and added a 'wo' before the 'man'. Rowena laughed. "That's my little girl. And you know what? You'll have something that will make you more of a princess than any other girl."

"What's that?"

"Sir Godric has found a place for the school of magic we want to build. In a few months, you'll be living in a castle with lots of girls and boys just like you!"

Helena squealed and hugged her mother.

"Now come on, help me get dinner ready," said Rowena.

Helena nodded, taking her mother's hand and walking out of the room, all thoughts of the mean girls forgotten. "After dinner will you help me put my models back together? I didn't much like painting. And then can we read the book about Aristotle? I was thinking in the convent, why is the water blue in the sea but not when I hold it? And why –"

Rowena smiled as her daughter fired off question after question. Helena was going to be the perfect Ravenclaw.

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><p><strong>Please review :)<strong>

**The views on men and marriage depicted in this chapter are also not entirely what I really think about the subjects. I'm trying to write this from the POV of an intelligent woman in the medieval ages and this is only my opinion on what I think she would have thought. This was written for My Dear Professor McGonagall's Mother and Child Competition.**

**This story was also written when life was a little complicated, so it may not be all that good. I will get around to editing it again when I have the time.**

**Again, please review and let me know what you thought :)**


	6. Superhero

**This was inspired by a quote on a friend's story. Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter! You guys are awesome :)**

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><p><em>Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero. ~Marc Brown<em>

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><p>The water looked deep and inviting.<p>

Albus ignored the goosebumps on his bare flesh as he inched forward. All it would take was one more little step forward. He would plunge into the depths and everything would be forgotten. All the taunts, all the laughter and all the snickering would stop. All he needed to do was take one single step.

"Oww," Albus groaned. He stepped back and limped away from the edge of the diving board. "Cramp," he muttered as he carefully made his way back to the steps.

James walked off to the edge of the board, rolling his eyes at his younger brother. He could still hear Albus' moans and groans over the sniggers of the other kids in the line. He looked back, slightly concerned. "You alright there, Al?"

"I'm fine. Just a cramp, can't dive." Albus laughed nervously and waved his hand.

James shrugged and turned back to the water, stretching and twisting his arms, slowly extending them as though he was about to fly. "Hey, Superman, stop wasting time jump already. We don't have all day," one of the older kids in the line called impatiently to James.

James took a deep breath and then dived gracefully, well aware that he was the only ten-year-old who could execute a perfect dive from the high diving board.

He was also well aware that he was the older brother of a kid who was too scared to even step off the board.

James swum over to the edge of the pool where Albus was waiting for him. They both watched as Lily slowly moved forward in the line behind the diving board. Neither of the boys had been particularly keen on bringing their little sister along to the public pool near their house but she was as competitive as her mother. Naturally, she wanted to do everything the boys did.

"Hey look, it's Potter. Are you sure you don't need a doctor, Al? This _is_ the sixth time you've got cramps just before you had to dive. Are they real, or are you just chicken? Are you suffering from divingophobia?" taunted Billy Dawson as he walked past the two Potter boys. "Scaredy cat, he can't even jump off a diving board!" The other boys with him laughed and pointed at Al who was turning a deep shade of red.

"Remember the one time he _did_ jump, Billy?" said one of the boys, grinning. "He fell flat on his face into the water." All of them laughed loudly as they swaggered off.

James had been watching his brother with a rather disappointed look. "You should stand up to them, you know," he commented. Al's ears just turned redder but he didn't reply. "Why can't you just jump off the board, Al? You're nine years old and you're smaller than a lot of the other kids here, but you can swim faster than all of them, except me of course. You love swimming! So why can't you just take the plunge? It's an embarrassment to me when you just stand there, shivering. Even Lily can do it, why can't you?"

"Because I'm not like you or Lily!" Albus burst out suddenly. He hurried away to change, not waiting for his siblings to walk home with him.

Albus remained very quiet for the rest of the evening and didn't say a word during dinner when he usually talked about his swimming classes. Lily chattered away but James couldn't help feeling a little worried. Even though he made fun of his brother and acted as though he didn't care about him, he was very protective of Al, despite the fact that they were only a year apart in age. He watched the smaller boy head up to bed early and waited for a while before he too made his way upstairs.

"Albus?" James asked cautiously entering his brother's room.

"Go away," came Al's muffled voice.

James made his way to the bed where Al was curled up beneath the sheets. "Not until you tell me what's wrong."

"Why do you care? You'll just laugh like everyone anyway."

"Hey, I might laugh at you and make fun of you but I don't like it when others are mean to you."

"Oh really?" Al sat up and looked straight at James. "Why didn't you tell Billy to go away when he was being mean to me today then? Why did you let everyone laugh at me that day I fell flat into the pool? You never stick up for me."

"That's because you never try to stick up for yourself! You're a Potter, when will you learn to hold your own? Even Lily's fiercer than you!"

"Yeah, everyone's better than me. My seven year old sister can jump off the diving board and my brother acts like Superman whenever he's on it. I can't even step off it, much less execute a dive," Al snapped.

"Well, why can't you?" James asked impatiently. "Come on, Al. You can't be scared of heights, you've played Quidditch. You're not afraid of the water. I can't figure out why you can't bring yourself to jump off that stupid board."

"I _want_ to do it but I'm scared, alright?" Al burst out.

James gaped. "Of _what_?"

"Everyone will be watching. They'll all laugh if I fall in flat again. Also, Billy told me that people can die jumping off diving boards. What if the board's too short and I hit the concrete instead of the pool? Or what if I go in so deep I hit my head on the bottom of the pool? What if the water's too cold and I experience shock? What if I panic or get a cramp when I'm underwater and I can't come back up? Billy said all that can happen to anyone, no matter how good a swimmer they were," Al confided.

James suddenly smiled at him. "You've lived with me and Fred for nine years and you still believe everything someone tells you? I thought you were smart, Al."

Albus' lips twitched slightly. "But I read about it too. What if something _does_ happen, James? Even if nothing happens, what if I make a fool of myself again and everyone laughs?"

James made an exasperated noise. "You read too much, Al. I bet I could think of a hundred ways something could go wrong even when you were just swimming. Are you going to stay away from doing something you really want to do all your life because someone tells you a bunch of things that could go wrong? Think about it; is life ever free of risks? For all you know, there could be an earthquake right now and the roof could fall on us. But you've got to do what you love and what you're good at without thinking of everything bad that could happen. Otherwise, life isn't really fun at all."

"You're _ten_. How did you get so wise?" Al said, smiling slightly.

James shrugged. "I'm eleven in a month. Taking risks is part of playing pranks. It wouldn't be fun if all I thought about was how I could get caught, would it? Billy's probably just jealous because you're a much better swimmer than he is. I mean, he's twelve and he's being beaten by a nine-year-old in all the races. He just wants you to look bad so he can look better."

"I'm nearly ten."

"You're still younger than him. And me. You should listen to your elders."

Albus rolled his eyes. "So I should just jump?"

James nodded. "Don't worry about anything. Besides, if something _does_ go wrong, do you think I'll be standing there enjoying an ice cream or something? I'll pull you out of the water myself if you do hit your head or can't surface for some reason. I'll use magic if I have to."

"Really?"

"I'm Superman, remember?" James winked. "I protect the innocent," he declared. "So will you jump tomorrow?"

"I don't know. What if I embarrass myself again? I don't want people laughing at me."

James just looked thoughtful.

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><p>The water looked deep and inviting.<p>

Albus looked down and gulped. He looked back and saw Billy with a very satisfied smirk on his face. The whole line behind him was pointing and smirking at him, anticipating another set of mysterious cramps. The whole pool was watching him, the kids, the coaches, the parents.

That was when he heard James' voice from the water below him. "Hey, look! Is that a kingfisher?" Every head in the pool turned to look in the direction James was pointing. In that moment, Albus made his move.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and stepped into nothingness. The feeling didn't last for more than a second. Before he knew it, his feet hit the water and he opened his eyes, quickly swimming back to the surface.

"That wasn't a kingfisher after all. Oh and_ that's_ my brother, you know. He's a good swimmer, although he's not as good as I am," James was telling the other kids in the water, boys that Al recognized as Billy's friends and they all looked impressed. The two Potter boys climbed out of the pool, Al still marveling at his success, waiting for Lily again. Billy Dawson marched up to them.

"You finally managed to do it, Ally. The look of terror on your face was hilarious! Let's see how well you hold up when we move to the higher boards. Will you fake cramps again or will you really be sick?" the older boy teased.

Al lifted his chin defiantly. "Why don't we talk about the look on your face when I beat you _again_ in the race we had earlier, Dawson? Now _that_ was funny, a nine year old beating _you_."

Billy glared at him. "I had a cramp," he muttered and hurried away.

James patted his brother on the back. "Well done, Al. That was a good jump too."

"Thanks for getting everyone's attention," said Al.

"What are you talking about? There really was a bird. I don't do something that nice," James replied. He didn't manage to keep the satisfied grin off his face.

"Do you think Billy will stop bothering me now?" Al asked, smiling at his brother's attempt to deny his act of niceness.

"Don't worry about him," James said dismissively. He leaned in closer. "I took the chance to slip some stink pellets into his pants earlier. Just wait till he gets dressed!"

Albus chuckled. "Thanks Superman."

"Defender of the innocent," James announced. But when he saw the look of gratitude and happiness on Albus' face; when he saw the pride the younger boy had at having conquered his fears and knew that it was because of his help, he couldn't help thinking that sometimes, being a brother was even better than being a superhero.

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><p><strong>Did you like it? Please review and tell me what you thought. Feedback is always much appreciated!<strong>

**Can I get at least five reviews please? It would really make my day :)**


	7. Charlie's Siblings

**Please review!**

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><p>"We'll be home by eleven, Charlie. Do you think you can hold down the fort until then?"<p>

Charlie rolled his eyes. "I'm sixteen, Mum. I think I can keep the house from burning down."

"Well just remember, there are biscuits on the top shelf in case anyone gets hungry. We had an early dinner after all. You know where the extra napkins are and make sure you put a blanket over Ron if it gets cold," said Molly.

"Come on, Mum, he'll be fine. He's looked after the kids when I started at Hogwarts. We'll be late," said Bill, tapping his foot impatiently. He and his parents were attending a farewell party for all the new curse-breakers.

"He hasn't babysat on his own before. _And_ we've never left all the kids alone at night before either."

"Honestly, Mum, I'm going to look after _dragons_ in a couple of years, I'm sure I can handle this lot," Charlie said confidently.

Molly nodded uncertainly and joined Bill and Arthur outside the gate. She waved at her children and the three of them Disapparated.

"Right, off to bed," Charlie announced, shepherding his siblings into the house and locking the door securely. The children immediately broke out into protests.

"It's only seven," Fred pointed out. "Even Ginny's allowed to stay up till nine."

"_I _want to read my new schoolbooks. I don't want to get to bed so early," objected Percy.

"Charlie, can I have a biscuit?" That was Ron.

"I want to play, Charlie! Play with me! Play with me!" Ginny yelled over her brothers' voices.

"How about we play Tame the Dragon?" suggested George before Charlie could say anything.

"I'm the dragon!" yelled Fred. "ROAR!" He went chasing after Ginny who squealed and ran around the room.

Charlie shook his head and decided he might as well let them work off some energy. "Don't worry, Ginny, I'll save you!" he called heroically tearing after both of them.

"Charlie, I want a biscuit," wailed Ron.

"You just had dinner," Charlie shouted over his shoulder as he chased Fred and Ginny out into the hall.

"Come on Ronnie, I want a biscuit too," said George, leading his brother into the kitchen.

Charlie nearly fell over a chair when he heard a loud crash and a cry of pain from the kitchen a few minutes later. He left Ginny and Fred playing their game and rushed into the rom. "George? Ron? Are you both alright?" he demanded when he saw them both on the floor.

"We were trying to get the biscuits and Ron was standing on me," George explained. "But he fell off."

Ron was trying not to look at the cut on his leg and sniffing. "Okay, don't cry Ron. I can fix that," Charlie said calmly. He'd got enough bruises and scrapes from Quidditch and he knew how to take care of them. He found the dittany his mother kept in a little cabinet and treated Ron's cut. "Here you go," he said, handing both of them a biscuit. "Next time you want something so badly, just tell me okay? Don't do stupid things like standing on each other. Don't make babysitting you lot difficult."

An anguished shout came from the living room no sooner than he said that. "What now?" Charlie demanded, running into the room.

Percy was frantically trying to reach a book in the fireplace. He tried to put his hands into the fire. "Oh no you don't!" Charlie said. He pulled Percy back and grabbed the fire tongs. He pulled the book out, beating the flames out before he handed it to Percy.

"I'm a dragon," announced Fred.

"You burnt my book!" Percy shouted, tackling Fred.

"Feel my claws," Fred shouted back and tried to scratch at the bigger boy's face.

"That's enough. Fred, stop that before you take his eye out," Charlie ordered. He pulled Percy off the younger boy. "Fred, say you're sorry to Percy. You can't just throw his things into the fire."

"But I'm the dragon. Dragons burn things."

"They don't burn their brother's books."

"Dragons don't have brothers."

"Yes they do."

"No they don't."

"Just say sorry, Fred!"

"Sorry," Fred mumbled.

"Tell us a story Charlie," Ginny said, oblivious to the fight. She pulled Charlie down to the floor and sat down beside him, looking up at him expectantly. The others sat down too, making a circle on the floor.

It amazed Charlie how quickly his siblings could go from one scrape to another and then suddenly calm down. He wondered if he'd been the same when he was younger and how Bill or his parents had put up with them all. "Okay. Um…It was a dark, quiet night," Charlie began. "There was an eerie chill in the air. It was cloudy and still. An owl hooted in the distance."

"Hoo."

Everyone jumped but Charlie just laughed. "It's only Errol." He threw some owl treats to the bird perched across the room and opened his mouth to continue. "Charlie, maybe you could tell us some other story," suggested Ron nervously.

"Come on, Ronnie, be brave. You want to be a Gryffindor don't you?" Charlie said. He continued, "There was one house on a lonely hill. Four young children lived in that house."

Ginny screamed.

"What's wrong?" Charlie asked, alarmed.

"Someone just darted past the window," she said shakily. Everyone looked at the window but no one was there.

"Are you sure you weren't just spooked by the story?" Charlie asked her.

Percy let out a loud gasp. "There _is_ someone out there. They just ran past the window!"

Charlie glanced at the window but there was still nothing there. He noticed the twins and Ron looking nervous and decided that his story was not for the kids. "I think you're just imagining things."

"I'm _sure_ I saw someone," Percy insisted and Ginny nodded fervently.

Charlie stood up. "Alright, you're all obviously too tired if you're seeing things. Let's get you to bed. It's nearly nine anyway." He herded them all up the stairs and into their rooms. "I'll be in my room. Just holler if you need anything," he added as he said goodnight.

He had been in his room, thinking up Quidditch strategies for about an hour when the first "Charlie?" disturbed the only peace he'd had all evening. Who knew babysitting could be such a hard job? Sighing, he got up. "What is it Ron?" he asked, lighting the lamps in Ron's room.

"There's a spider on my pillow."

Charlie screwed up his nose at the sight of the big spider but he picked it up and carried it over to the window. As he leaned out to throw it, a flash of red on the ground below caught his eye. He frowned and leaned further out of the window, looking around. It was cloudy so he couldn't see much but no one seemed to be there. He closed the window and latched it firmly.

"Can you leave the window open?" asked Ron.

"You don't want the spider coming back, do you?" Charlie asked. There was no need to scare Ron with explanations of mysterious people.

Ron shook his head and climbed back into bed. Charlie went back to his room to get his wand. _Was_ someone really lurking outside? He was _sure_ he'd seen a flash of red hair under Ron's window. And Percy and Ginny had seen someone too. Movement caught the corner of his eye and he spun around. There was no one else on the staircase. He ran back to his room and grabbed his wand.

"Charlie!"

Charlie raced down the stairs and burst into Ginny's room, thinking of intruders and thieves. She was sitting up in bed, her eyes wide and terrified as she pointed at her closet. The doorknob was rattling and a low ghostly wail came from within. Charlie frowned. Was it a Boggart? Or the ghoul perhaps? He wasn't really scared. He'd heard worse than a few moans at Hogwarts. The wail came again and this time, Charlie's expression cleared as he recognized the voice. He strode forward and yanked open the door ignoring Ginny's gasp.

A tall, hooded figure wobbled out unsteadily, arms outstretched. "Charlie? What is that?" squeaked Ginny.

"_This_," said Charlie "is a couple of idiots who aren't letting me have some peace and quiet." He shoved the 'creature' and it tumbled over with two indignant "Ow!"s. Fred and George emerged from under the robe, muttering crossly.

"Wait till Bill finds out you tore his old robes," Charlie smirked.

"We were only having fun," protested George.

"Fun?" shrieked Ginny. "You scared me!"

"Sorry." The twins couldn't stop grinning though.

"Back to bed now," Charlie ordered, pulling the two boys up.

All of them froze as a loud knocking came from downstairs. "Charlie? Isn't it too early for Mum and Dad to be home?" asked Percy uncertainly, coming into the room.

"Go back to bed Percy. Maybe the party got over early," Charlie said, noting the scared looks on the younger kids' faces.

"But it's only a little after ten," said Percy as Ron joined them all too. "You don't think it's that person Ginny and I saw?"

"Is it a thief?" asked Fred.

"Thieves won't really knock on doors," Charlie said. "Relax; it's probably just Bill and the parents." He knew it was too early for them to be home too and he didn't think they'd knock for so long but he didn't want to frighten his siblings more. He went out and down the stairs slowly, the other five following him. The knocking was still going on as they reached the front door.

"Okay, stay behind me," said Charlie, raising his wand.

"But you said it's just Mum and Dad and Bill," whispered Ginny.

"I know, but let's just be safe," Charlie answered, pushing her behind the twins. He kept his wand at the ready and pulled open the door. A gust of wind blew out the candles and the hall was plunged into darkness. Charlie felt someone brush past him and heard Ron's strangled gasp. He turned around to find someone walk straight into his siblings. He let out a yell and tackled the stranger, knocking him to the ground. He tried to keep the stranger still so he could Stun him. He reached for his wand –

"Charlie!" The lights came back on and Charlie turned around to find his parents and brother standing in the doorway.

"Mum! Dad! There's an intruder," he gasped.

"Oi Charlie, get off me, would you?" the 'stranger' he was sitting on said.

"Uncle Bilius?"

Bill came over and pulled Charlie off their uncle. "Have you been prowling around outside the house all night?" Charlie demanded.

"Sorry," said Bilius. "I couldn't get close enough to the door, some sort of spell kept blocking me. It took me this long to break it."

"We put up a few wards, Bilius. It was the first time we were leaving all the children alone and none of them are old enough to use magic," explained Arthur. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"You don't have to worry about spells," grinned Bilius. He nodded at Charlie, "That boy's got his siblings well looked after. I'd been up to visit old Xeno Lovegood and I thought I'd drop by. I didn't know you would be out and I didn't want to wait outside, Merlin knows what sort of creatures wander about here. I've been trying to find some way to get in all night. Sorry I gave you all such a fright."

Bill grinned. "How was your night Charlie? If you can handle the kids, you can handle the dragons."

Charlie shook his head. "I think I'll prefer the dragons."

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><p><strong>Please review and let me know what you thought :)<strong>

**This was for the True Colours Competition. My colour was red, representing action, confidnece, courage nad vitality and my character was Charlie Weasley. I hope the stroy was alright, it's been a while since I've written anything so my writing's a little rusty. I hope it wasn't too choppy or random.**


	8. Best Friends

_**"The friends who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not healing, not curing... That is a friend who cares"**_

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><p>It was over.<p>

You-Know-Who had lost the war, Hogwarts was being rebuilt, parties were being held and everyone was slowly trying to reconstruct their lives. When the new Minister, Kingsley Shacklebolt, described the recovery process, he likened the situation to putting together a massive jigsaw puzzle that some obnoxious kid had broken up and scattered. Everyone would have to do their best to match the final picture to the original image.

That was going to be impossible because some of the pieces were lost. They wouldn't be found under the table or stuck deep between the sofa cushions. They wouldn't inexplicably turn up the middle of a book or in the wrong box; these fragments were gone forever. The big picture would always remain incomplete without them; it would always have those conspicuous holes.

Then there are some pieces that people don't even remember existing. They are one of those generic parts that go into the sides of the image. Everyone just lines them up without paying much attention to anything but the straight edge. Even when one of them is lost, no one really notices because there are so many other pieces with straight edges that they can line up. People can still complete the picture without too much trouble. But if you look closely, those are some of the most beautiful elements. They have little things, little details printed on them: a ray of sunlight perhaps, or the slightest shadow or the flowers on the fringes of a meadow. It's those little details that add beauty to the final image even if they're not that important.

Lavender Brown had lost one of those pieces.

She stood outside the entrance to St. Mungo's. The hood of her cloak had fallen back, revealing the scars on her face. She had only just found out about the loss and all she wanted was to see one person: Parvati. The Gryffindor girl walked through the glass of the store front, made her way to the front desk and asked for Parvati's room almost mechanically. Her feet were taking her forward, her brain and mouth formed words that she wasn't aware of speaking. Before she knew it, she was opening the door to Parvati's ward. She barely registered Parvati's welcoming smile and exclamation of delight. She just launched herself at her best friend and finally let the tears fall.

Parvati had been injured severely in the Battle of Hogwarts and had been among the first to be taken to St. Mungo's. After a week of potions and healing spells, she was doing much better and on the road to a full recovery. During her stay at the hospital, she thought she had experienced and seen so much pain that it would no longer faze her. Seeing Lavender sobbing so uncontrollably into her shoulder, however, hurt her more deeply than any physical wound.

Parvati put her arms around her best friend protectively as if that could shield her from whatever was causing her distress. There was nothing that she wanted to do more than to ask Lavender what was wrong and fix it. It distressed _her_ to not be able to tell her friend that everything would be okay, to not heal her pain and sorrow. But she knew she had to wait. She didn't like it, but she knew Lavender would tell her what was wrong when she was ready. She rubbed soothing circles into her friend's back, waiting patiently until her sobs quietened to the occasional sniff. Slowly, Lavender drew away but Parvati made sure not to let go of her hand.

Lavender took a deep breath and looked at her bedridden friend. "Emma's dead."

Parvati felt Lavender squeeze her hand and was glad for that. In that moment, it felt like the world had fallen away. The pressure of the other girl's hand was the only thing that kept her from dropping into nothingness. Emma – that dear little first year - gone forever? It was impossible. Surely death wasn't cruel enough to take away such a sweet young girl – she was barely twelve – from the world?

"They didn't even know who she was," Lavender said. "They'd taken all the evacuated kids to a safehouse in London. She – she slipped out apparently, yesterday. They think she must have been trying to get to her parents, they lived in London. She was ambushed by one of the Death Eaters who managed to escape. She didn't – she didn't stand a chance." Lavender was crying again and Parvati had gone very white. "They prepared a list of all those who – well they didn't even know who she was. Professor McGonagall and I were the only ones who remembered her name. She had such a common name, such a forgettable face but she was so special; she was always so sweet. She didn't deserve this. I'm scared, Parvati. I don't know how we're going to get through this. It's over but it's still not safe out there. How are we going to do this? We didn't get through the war unscathed. I'm scarred; the Healers said you'll always have a limp. If the world isn't even safe for a happy, healthy little girl, how are we going to make it? How are we going to face the world? How are we going to rebuild happy lives without the people who made us happy? How are we going to get through this at all?"

Parvati shook her head, lips pressed firmly together and Lavender broke down completely. The girls held hands tightly, afraid that if they let go, they would crumble just like their world had. Parvati had always prided herself on being the one who knew what to say in any situation. She could always say that everything would be okay and offer suggestions on how to reduce the scarring or how to begin the healing process after losing someone so dear or how they could take measures to stay safe. There were a million reassuring things she could think of saying but she knew but they would just be empty words. Lavender hadn't come to her to hear that. She would have heard all of it from Professor McGonagall or the others. What Lavender needed was simply someone to be there for her. She needed the assurance that someone who _understood_, someone who was as afraid as her was also going to be facing the world. That was what Parvati had to do; she just had to be there, silent and strong.

It was a few hours before Lavender finally let go of Parvati's hand and stood up to leave. "Thanks for not telling me to eat or sleep or that it would be okay," she said softly. "Thanks for just being with me."

"I'll always be there for you," Parvati replied. "I know you're scared about losing more people and you're worried about how society will react to your scars and how you'll make your way, but you don't have to be. It's over. It will take a while, but we can do this; we can look forward to life. It'll be okay."

"I'm not that afraid now I know you'll always be there." Lavender nudged her friend gently. "Between your limp and my scars, we'll be the new Mad-Eye Moody eh?" She and Parvati smiled slightly. "We'll get through everything together, tough and resilient."

"Together," agreed Parvati.

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><p>Lavender looked at her reflection in the little bathroom. Lines were now vying for space with the scars on her face. She straightened the black dress she was wearing. She knew she would be late if she kept dawdling, but she was scared. It had been forty years since the war; forty years since she'd been afraid of the world.<p>

"Mum?" Emma, Lavender's eldest daughter poked her head into the room. "We'll be late."

Lavender took a deep breath. "Tough and resilient," she whispered to herself as she followed her daughter out. She caught sight of familiar faces in the crowd. Harry, Ron and Hermione were there along with Ginny, Neville, Hannah and most of their school year. She felt a little better. At least Parvati's funeral was being attended by people who cared about her. It wasn't a mass event like little Emma's had been.

She took her place at the front of the room, her eyes fixed on the large smiling portrait of her best friend. She inhaled deeply and the scent of yellow roses – Parvati's favourite flowers – which decorated the place gave her strength to speak. "Fifty years ago, Minister Shacklebolt told us that rebuilding our lives after the war would be much like reassembling a jigsaw puzzle. You just had to put back all the pieces and you'd have your old life back. It's not that easy though. We lost a lot of those pieces that make our lives complete. And no matter what you do, those cracks between the segments will never go away. Life will never be the same.

"In my jigsaw, Parvati was that piece you placed right in the centre; the one without which the picture would look bare even if all the other elements were present. She'd been badly injured in the final battle. I – I thought I was going to lose her then. When I finally went to see her and the healers told me she'd make it, I felt like I had found that one elusive piece of the jigsaw that always manages to slip under the rug and leads to hours of frantic searching. The happiness on finding that that piece wasn't lost, despite how battered and worn it looked, is indescribable.

"Today I've lost that piece forever. A lot of people have told me for the last few days that everything will be okay. They've told me that Parvati's in a better place or that I should cherish the good memories. I've been told that I should try to move on with my life, Parvati wouldn't have wanted me to remain sad for too long. I'm sorry, but that's not what I wanted to hear. Those words are about as effective as replacing those lost jigsaw pieces with plain white ones and trying to pretend that the picture's still as beautiful as before. I didn't want to hear words of comfort and reassurance.

"I remember, just over a week after the war, the world was still unsafe. A first-year girl whom I was very fond of was killed by a Death Eater who still believed his lot had a chance to regain their power. I was upset. I went straight to Parvati and cried and cried and I know she wanted to tell me the same words of comfort but she didn't. She knew that what I needed was a rock to hold on to in the world of chaos and though she wanted to whisper those reassurances, though she wanted to start healing my pain, she didn't because she knew that wasn't what I needed. Instead, she just stayed silent for a while and later told me that she would always be there for me, that we'd face the big, scary world together. She knew – she knew that – that – what I needed was a best friend.

"That's what I want now too. I just – I just want my best friend back." Lavender dabbed at her eyes, making an effort to control herself. "After all these years, the world is still not safe. Parvati was killed by a pureblood bigot. We fought the war to end that kind of thinking but it's still scary and dangerous out there.

"She was a wonderful person. Parvati was an amazing wife and mother –" Lavender inclined her head towards Dean Thomas who was sitting in the front with his son and daughter. "She was an irreplaceable sister," she looked towards where Padma was sitting. "But above all, she was the best friend I could ever have." Lavender took another deep breath. The aroma of roses was so comforting, so familiar. It almost felt as if Parvati was right there, holding her hand.

She smiled. "She's been with me through bad grades, teenage heartache, my rabbit's death, the whole war…And I know that she's still right here. Every time I was upset, she just told me that she'd always be there for me, nothing more. She stayed with me unlike everyone else who offered me advice and condolence. She helped me through life and I believe she's still here, holding my hand. She's always going to be with us all. Someday, we'll see her again. She didn't say goodbye, just a 'see you later'. That's the thing about best friends; when we say we'll be together forever, we mean forever."

Lavender stepped down and took her seat with her family as someone else stood up to speak. Emma squeezed her hand gently. Lavender looked up at the portrait of Parvati again which was smiling down at her. Yes, it would be okay. Her best friend would be with her through everything, after all.

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><p><strong>I may have taken the quote a little too literally and I hope both sections weren't too repetitive...<strong>

**Do review and let me know what you thought!**


	9. Being Hufflepuff

_18th December, 1992_

"He was right there, Hannah! Who else could it have been?" Ernie paced up and down the deserted corridor, waving his arms in agitation. The castle was quiet and the only light came from the torches on the walls. A snowstorm raged outside the windows, much like Ernie was raging inside, and the wind rattled the glass occasionally, breaking into the eerie silence that had blanketed the school. The normal hustle and bustle of students roaming the corridors at that time was absent. All classes had been called off after Justin and Nearly Headless Nick had been found Petrified and everyone was staying inside their common rooms. Ernie, however, hadn't been able to sit in the common room with everyone around him speculating who the culprit might be and had slipped out. Only Hannah had seen him go and followed him to the corridor they were currently in.

Ernie's angry footsteps echoed in the deserted passage as Hannah trotted along behind him, trying to keep up. "You don't _know_ that. Look, if it was really Harry Potter, why would he attack two Gryffindors?" she argued.

"Creevey kept annoying Potter, I told you that already. I heard the ghost nearly got Potter into trouble with Filch sometime too. You heard him talk about his Muggle relatives. He obviously hates them and he's taking it out on all of us!" Ernie shot back.

"But he's a rather nice boy, Ernie. Besides, if he really hates the Muggles, why would he risk doing something like this and getting expelled? He'd have to live with them all the time then. _And_ one of his best friends is a Muggleborn, surely he can't have anything against them," Hannah reasoned.

Ernie rounded on her angrily. "Don't ask me to figure out how the mind of an evil, twisted Dark wizard works! What's up with you, Hannah? You're supposed to be a Hufflepuff. Where's your loyalty, eh? Potter's a danger and he just attacked one of my friends – one of _our _friends – and you're trying to justify his actions!" He regretted his outburst when he saw Hannah's eyes fill with tears. "Hannah – no, I didn't mean to yell – Hannah, wait!"

"Please don't stay up here for too long, it isn't safe," she muttered before sprinting away.

Ernie slapped the wall in frustration. He hadn't meant to say that, he'd always had a big mouth. It was just that he was scared and Justin had been attacked just two hours ago and he was worried. Fear was even scarier when you didn't know what you were afraid of and Ernie was no Gryffindor. Deep, deep down, he knew that Harry Potter couldn't possibly be the Heir of Slytherin but it was far easier to blame a solid, breathing boy and fear him than a silent, unseen shadow. In Ernie's mind, Harry Potter had hurt his friend and he couldn't stand to hear anyone defend the boy, not even timid little Hannah who barely spoke up at all!

An hour later, he made his way back to the common room, his mind much clearer than before. He was feeling immensely guilty about shouting at Hannah, even if he firmly believed she was wrong to still trust Potter. He found her sitting in a corner of the cosy room, alone, looking pensively at a painting on the wall. He walked through the room to her, nodding at students as they patted his shoulder consolingly or nodded grimly at him. He sat down and cleared his throat.

She looked up, startled. "Oh! Ernie, thank goodness! I was beginning to worry."

Ernie felt guiltier at that. He remembered how she had been concerned for his safety even before she'd run off though she must have been angry and upset.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry, Hannah. I shouldn't have shouted at you like that. I was angry and I was – I still am – really scared. I'm scared of whatever's lurking out there but I shouldn't have taken it out on you," Ernie apologised.

Hannah's eyes softened. "Ernie, you accused me of not being Hufflepuff enough because I wasn't supporting our housemate."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that too." Ernie looked sheepish. "I talk too much."

"No, I'm not offended. It's just, well; being fair is a Hufflepuff quality too. Are _you_ being fair by accusing Harry of something you have no proof he's done?" Hannah looked him in the eye.

Ernie was thrown by her question. He hadn't expected quiet Hannah Abbott to say that. Now that he thought about it, though, he realised she was right. He wasn't being fair at all. "I…er…I guess not," he admitted. "I'll try to, er, look at things more objectively now. But I still don't believe he's completely blameless either!"

She smiled. "That's alright. As long as you're going to make an effort."

"Aren't you afraid, Hannah? I mean, we're not Slytherins, so we're not safe. We're not Ravenclaws who are smart enough to get themselves out of trouble and we're not brave like the Gryffindors. Don't you need to blame someone whom you can keep an eye on so you won't be as scared?" he asked her suddenly.

"I'm scared, of course! I'm terrified of going to bed at night sometimes. But you know what? If anything happens, I'm confident that I'll have someone to face it with. I know that I'm not very faithful myself yet, but I also know that our loyalty means that we'll stick together and that makes me a little less scared. My Mum always told me that the dark is not as scary if you're holding someone's hand and that's what I believe now too. If you need to talk about it, Ernie, I'm a good listener."

"I guess neither of us are very good Hufflepuffs yet," Ernie mused.

"That's what we're here to learn," Hannah replied with a small smile.

Ernie and Hannah had started off as mere classmates. They didn't understand each other with mere looks and gestures like best friends did, they didn't know little details about each other like good friends did and they didn't even know each other's birthdays like friends might. But all relationships start with communication, by two people airing their feelings and opinions and just talking and listening to each other. If, in that conversation, the two people strike a chord; that marks the beginning of a friendship. And Ernie and Hannah had just begun theirs.

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><p><em>21st November, 1994<em>

No one really understood why timid Hannah Abbott was friends with boisterous Ernie Macmillan. Some people wondered how they _could_ be friends. Hannah was shy and she usually gave in to the more powerful speaker so wouldn't that make their friendship controlled by one person? In fact, many believed that Ernie just convinced her to stick around so that he could boss over her and have an audience for his pompous speeches. Very few people realised however, that just because Hannah didn't talk much, it didn't mean that Ernie didn't understand what she wanted to say.

"Stop fiddling with it," Ernie said, without even looking up.

Hannah's fingers dropped from her "Support Cedric Diggory" badge immediately and she looked sheepish. "Sorry," she muttered, taking a sip of her Butterbeer.

"Do you have Falco Aesalon? I can swap Bowman Wright for him," Ernie said nonchalantly as he sorted through his pile of chocolate frog cards. It was the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year, just before the first task of the Triwizard Tournament was due to happen. The two of them were sitting a table in the Three Broomsticks, swapping cards. Hannah sorted through her pile with one hand while the other rose unconsciously to her badge.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, Hannah, stop worrying at that badge. You'll only tear your clothes if you keep that up!"

The two friends looked up. Justin and Terry had arrived and Justin was frowning at Hannah.

"Well it's bothering me, okay? I don't like it," Hannah said defiantly.

"How can you say that?" Ernie demanded. "Potter doesn't need the fame! Cedric wasn't even mentioned in the paper!"

"Yeah, he's stealing the glory we haven't had in centuries! He's just an attention-seeking –"

"He doesn't look like he wants any of it!" Hannah said loudly.

Terry looked stunned that _Hannah_ had interrupted him; she never did that. She glared at him and continued hotly. "Have you lot even seen him lately? Look around, all of you. He isn't even here. Hermione's sitting there, Ron's ditched them and that Skeeter woman's made him the object of ridicule. It's so bad that he can't even be here to relax on a Hogsmeade weekend. We all find a couple of tests and exams too strenuous to deal with and he has to think about a dangerous, life-threatening task! Why would he want to go through so much just to get a few days of fame _which he already has?_"

"Why do I care?" Terry shot back immediately. "It's the fact that Hufflepuff's being overshadowed yet again that's ticked me off."

"Don't you care about Hufflepuff, Hannah?" _Our_ house? The most underappreciated, average house that has finally got a chance to shine until Potter ruined it?" Ernie asked.

"I do, of course I do! But it just doesn't seem…" Hannah trailed off, not wanting to say the next word.

"What, fair?" Justin guessed correctly. "You think it's unfair that Potter is being held responsible and having to face consequences for something he didn't do – or so he claims – is that it? Well is it fair that Hufflepuff still has to suffer, no matter under what circumstances? Or that a boy who entered by perfectly fair means and won his position doesn't get the recognition he deserves?"

"I guess not," Hannah admitted.

"Potter's going to be an easy opponent for Cedric, I reckon. He's already beaten the kid once," Terry said confidently.

"Hmm, yeah," agreed Hannah.

"Come on, Hannah, let's get some more drinks," said Ernie suddenly, standing up. He wagged his finger at the other two boys. "Don't try to nick any of our cards, I've got them all accounted for." He led Hannah around the tables, pausing only to greet Professor Moody and Hagrid who had just arrived.

It was only when they were safely at the bar that he spoke. "If you don't like the badge, you can always take it off."

She smiled ruefully, unpinning her badge. "You saw that I didn't really agree with what they said, did you?"

"We've been friends long enough. I understand you," he said. "Look, I won't lie. I do agree with them and I think you should support Cedric but I also understand what you mean about being unfair to Harry. I've done that once already and I don't want to just blame him again. Also, I want to be loyal to the house, but I'm also loyal to my friends and I'll defend your feelings if I have to." He took the badge from her hands and leaned over, dangling it just beyond the counter. "We could always accidentally have 'lost your badge' to the unruly crowd here," he suggested. "What do you think?"

Hannah smiled at him and shook her head, pulling him back. She firmly pinned the badge to her shirt again. "If you're learning about fairness, I'm learning to be loyal. My house needs my support."

"Let's get that drink and walk back to the castle, shall we? I owe you a Bowman Wright card. I might have a Ptolemy somewhere too," said Ernie

"You do? I want it! I can't believe I don't have a single one of him, he's so common!"

Yes, Hannah and Ernie had many doubters, but when the pair walked around as they did just then, arms around each other and chatting and laughing enthusiastically, everyone could see that they weren't just friends; they were well on the road to being best friends.

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><p><em>28th May, 1996<em>

"So how long have you been studying for?"

"Er, sorry Ernie, I have to go see Professor Sprout!" Justin scrambled away before Ernie could ask him to wait and answer his question first. Most people had found Ernie to be a pain that week. He would get that manic glint in his eye and ask people about their studying habits. That would have been fine except that most of them barely put in half the hours he claimed to and that scared them a lot. With only two weeks to go for OWLs, everyone was on tenterhooks and Ernie was not helping matters.

"Ernie, there you are!" Hannah called out when she spotted her friend.

"Hannah, where have you got to? I've studied for about six hours today. I wanted you to get me some dinner so I could put in at least four more hours before I go to bed and – wait, where are you taking me? Hannah, no, I need to study!" Ernie protested loudly as Hannah simply grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the common room.

"We," she said, pulling him all the way to the entrance hall, "are going to take a break." She led him to the lake. There weren't many people around since the bell for lunch had just gone and everyone was in the Great Hall. Under the beech tree by the lake was a picnic basket and a large basket of food. Beside that was a collection of games.

"What's all this?" Ernie asked.

"Like I said, we're taking a break. I had a nervous breakdown last week and you're on the verge of one too," she replied.

"No I'm not, I'm doing great! I can do hard work, that's why I'm in the house in the first place."

"Please. I can see right through your sudden interest in everyone's studying habits. You're afraid you're not doing well enough and you're trying to make yourself feel better by scaring everyone else. Not on purpose, of course. And just because we're meant to be hard workers doesn't mean we can't have some fun."

Ernie blinked. "How did you know that? How did you know I've been feeling extremely stressed and scared?" he admitted.

"I'm your best friend," she replied, rolling her eyes. "I don't need to hear you say it out loud to know what you're really thinking."

"We're best friends?" Ernie's voice sounded hopeful, yet doubtful. "I've never had a best friend before."

"Of course we are! Don't you think so?"

Ernie smiled widely. "Yeah, yeah I do. I just didn't think you felt the same way too. I'm glad we're best friends."

She smiled, "So am I. Now, what do you say we get started on lunch and then play some silly games to take our minds off the OWLs?"

He scanned the pile of games she'd brought. "Brooms and Bludgers? I haven't played that since I was six," he said with a grin.

"The best games are the classics," she shrugged, grinning back.

When their other classmates brought their thick books out and threw the pair incredulous and slightly jealous looks, they didn't care. Sometimes, you didn't need Calming Draughts or Cheering Charms to distract you from your troubles and worries. All you needed was a best friend to be silly with.

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><p><em>2nd May, 1998<em>

"So this is it." Ernie and Hannah stood in a corridor – the same one they had argued about Justin with in their second year – oblivious to the chaos around them as students rushed past on their way to the Room of Requirement.

"It's time to decide whether we'll have a future our OWLs can actually be used in, Ernie," said Hannah.

"Are you scared?" Ernie asked.

"I'm terrified," she replied. Her brow creased. "I'm okay at spells but I'm no Gryffindor."

"It's okay."

They both looked at each other for a moment, trying to say everything they wanted to. "Hey, do you know why one of Hufflepuff's colours is yellow?" Hannah asked suddenly. "It means that we're the best friends anyone can ever make. It symbolises our loyalty. We'll stick by each other and face it all together, no matter what happens," he said with a small smile.

"Hannah - " There was so much Ernie wanted to say - he didn't want to lose his best friend, he wanted to tell her to run or hide, he wanted to tell her to be careful. But, for once, he was at a loss for words.

She hugged him suddenly. "See you after the battle?" she whispered.

He hugged her back. "Definitely." Perhaps she'd heard him loud and clear after all.

They'd be okay, because they would be keeping an eye out for each other whenever they could. They would be strong and they'd make it because they had something the Death Eaters didn't – friendship and loyalty. They would fight, no matter how bad the odds were. They would do their duty to the school and they would do anything to protect their friends. They would fight together; and together, they would be unstoppable.

* * *

><p><em>June 18th, 2004<em>

"I wish Mum and Dad were here." Hannah sighed wistfully as she looked into the mirror.

"Don't you dare cry," Susan threatened, smoothing out her friend's white dress. Hannah had never been particularly beautiful but the kindness and gentleness in her face made her one of the prettiest girls on earth. On her wedding day, in that lovely dress with her hair done up, Susan thought that she had never seen any bride more beautiful than Hannah.

A knock on the door made them both look around. Ernie poked his head in. "Are you ready to go? Everyone's in the tent and it's almost time."

Hannah nodded and he grinned. "Good, we'd be late otherwise. I'd hate to have everyone think I was too selfish to give you away so I spirited you to China where we could live as friends forever or something."

Hannah rolled her eyes as they positioned themselves at the mouth of large marquee. He smiled down at her. "I'm honoured to be giving you away. I'm happy it's to Neville, there couldn't have been anyone better."

"You're just saying that to get free drinks at the Leaky Cauldron next time," Hannah said cheekily but she couldn't hide the blush and the wide smile that appeared on her face at the thought of her soon-to-be husband.

"You know me too well," Ernie laughed.

"Best friends can read minds, remember?"

She looked up at him. Suddenly, the lights flickered in the passage and went out. For a moment, she was scared and excited at the same time. She didn't want to lose her best friend just because she was getting married; what if things didn't work out, what if she messed everything up somehow? She had barely begun to feel alarmed when she felt Ernie's hand slip into hers and squeeze reassuringly. It was too dark to see for sure, but she knew Ernie's face had that all-knowing, kind smile - the smile he always gave her when she needed comforting.

Yes, Ernie talked too much and Hannah too little. But the best friendships are between those who understand that it's what their friend _doesn't_ say that's often more important than what they do.

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><p><strong>Do let me know what you thought with a review :)<strong>

**I just wanted to say something about Brooms and Bludgers. In my mind, this is the wizard equivalent of Snakes and Ladders, just more unpredictable because the Bludgers will be zooming around the board and you get knocked down a few squares if they hit the square you're on. Brooms obviously take you higher up.**

**This was also for the Yellow Rose Bowl competition with the quote "Everyone HEARS what you say. Friends LISTEN to what you say. Best friends listen to what you DON'T say."**


	10. They're Embarassing But They're Family

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed or putting it on your favourites or alerts list! A big thank you to Morning Lilies for beta-ing this for me!**

**This is dedicated to ClaireBear1982.**

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><p>Teddy Lupin had to admit there were some advantages to being part of a family as big – no, it was massive really – as the Weasley-Potter clan. He got loads of presents at Christmas and on his birthday, and he'd get even more when the umpteen babies grew up. He got free goodies from Uncle George's store; amazing stories from Uncle Bill and Uncle Charlie; flying lessons from Aunt Ginny and any book he wanted from Aunt Hermione. He loved Grandma Molly's mouthwatering food. And he had loads of photos and tons of memories to store away for a rainy day. Yes, being an honourary Weasley had its perks.<p>

Unfortunately, Teddy mused, if regular families were embarrassing, the Weasleys were ten times so. Most kids only had two parents and a couple of siblings who came to see them off on their first trip to Hogwarts. Teddy was the loser with two godparents, nine aunts and uncles, one smothering grandmother, one Muggle-obsessed grandfather, one imperial grandmother and eleven cousins below the age of ten with another on the way, crowded together on the platform. And this was without all the members of the Order or Dumbledore's Army, at least one of whom dropped by every day.

It didn't help that he was the freak with green hair on the most important day of his life, either.

"Teddy, don't forget to write, okay?" Victoire pulled on his sleeve. "Don't forget to write to me every day."

"I will Vic, don't worry." Teddy prised his sleeve out of her grip. He looked around desperately for a bathroom or a pillar he could hide behind. He hated being stared at. He had to get away from this chattering, noisy bunch of people who were more excited about his going to Hogwarts than he was.

"Teddy? Teddy! You forgot your lunch, dear. You don't want to get hungry on the train, do you?" Teddy cringed as Grandma Molly hurried over with a packet of food. A couple of older students passing by snickered as she hugged him. "Oh, just look at you, little Teddy, you're all grown up now! I can't believe you're off to Hogwarts already. It seems like just yesterday you were running around in nappies with your hair flashing every colour in the rainbow."

"Er, thanks Grandma Molly. I'm just going to go put this into my bag, alright?" Teddy managed to slip out of her arms and began to fight his way through the sea of excited redheads. "Excuse me. Oh sorry Uncle Percy, didn't mean to knock that over." He regained his balance and stared in dismay at the baby bag he'd tripped over. He started shovelling all the contents that had fallen out back into it as fast as possible.

Percy shifted his daughter, Molly, to his other hip and straightened his glasses. "Teddy, you remember what I told you last night, don't you?" he began – far too loudly in Teddy's opinion. "There's no time to slack off. I would have preferred that you began your studies last month but, I suppose as Remus Lupin's son, you do have a knack for academics so you should be able to manage even though you're starting a bit late. I hope you begin reading as soon as you get on that train. There's no need to while away a perfectly good eight hours if you find a quiet compartment. Try starting with Transfiguration, perhaps. It's one of the subjects that need extra work and this is advice coming from the man who got an O in it." Percy puffed out his chest proudly.

Teddy was shifting from foot to foot, cursing himself for not being a little less clumsy. "Erm, right, Transfiguration it is." He glanced uncomfortably at a group of girls who giggled as they walked past; the word 'nerd' clearly reached his ears. He hurried off in search of his trunk before Percy started another tirade.

His family was causing absolute mayhem on the platform. He bumped into Bill who was thankfully busy, trying to break up a fight between Louis and Dominique. Louis seemed to be fascinated with chewing on Dom's hair, and she was trying to slap him away. Fleur called out, "Don't forget to use zat lotion every night, Teddy. Ze rash will break out again otherwise!"

He rushed past, his ears burning and his green hair was tinged with red. Charlie seemed to be trying to be the "cool" uncle (although, Teddy was pretty sure that Charlie had been enlisted by Uncle George to make his life miserable) and had turned up in a somewhat Gothic ensemble. The ripped clothing (which had gone out of fashion at least five years ago) and the fangs dangling from his fingers wouldn't have been so bad except that he was trying to chat with random students.

He finally spotted his trunk in the middle of the crowd. He almost ran over to it - it seemed like an island of sanity in the sea of redheaded madness he was being buffeted about in – and stopped short when he spotted the adults arguing over it.

"I don't care if he's your favourite nephew or not. You're not going to put more sweets into his trunk," scolded Aunt Hermione. She glanced around, clearly uncomfortable with making a scene. Teddy was grateful that at least one person was trying to be quiet.

"Come on, Hermione, he's a growing boy. All Mum would have given him is corned beef sandwiches. He needs his candy. I never got to take any to Hogwarts just for myself," Ron protested vehemently.

"That's because you had to share with six others. Teddy can buy his own sweets if he likes. Besides, that trunk is packed to bursting. There's just no space in there."

"There would be, if you hadn't crammed in that many books!"

"The books aren't going to rot his teeth and give him stomach aches."

"No, they're going to rot his brain, give him headaches and make him a social outcast."

"_What did you say?"_

Teddy was wondering if it could get worse when George and Angelina began to do their part to add to the chaos too.

"George! Don't even think about putting firecrackers into that trunk!" Angelina yelled, spotting her husband crouching beside the luggage. So much for Hermione's efforts to not draw attention to themselves.

"I wasn't trying to put in any firecrackers," George lied, hiding the packet behind his back.

"There are enough children on this platform, I can't keep an eye on you too!"

"Can anyone see socks in that trunk? I don't remember if I packed them or not." Audrey's shrill voice pierced through the already loud argument.

"Wait, put in my picture of Teddy too," four-year-old Rose cried, waving a piece of paper covered with crayon marks.

Teddy took an involuntary step backwards. He could see the other parents on the platform smiling indulgently. The other students were openly staring, smirking or snickering at him. He could hear snatches of their (quiet, like his family couldn't be) conversations. "Yes, Teddy Lupin", "Weasleys", "Such a kid", "Weirdo...green hair. _Green?", "_Needs this many people to see him off?" "Gets his family to pack his trunk?"

Why did the Weasleys have to be so loud and obvious and _embarrassing?_ Didn't they realise how much the other kids would make fun of him at Hogwarts? They didn't all need to come see him off or pack his trunk _or_ give him advice either. He was eleven for Merlin's sake; he could take care of himself. He spotted Ron coming towards him and immediately turned away. He slipped behind two seventh-years, ducked around two new families coming in through the barrier and dived behind a pillar, a good distance away from the Weasleys. He stuck his head around the pillar carefully to check the clock. There were still twenty minutes to eleven.

"Scared about going to Hogwarts?"

Teddy nearly jumped out of his skin. He whirled around to find his godfather sitting on a bench opposite his pillar. Harry smiled and patted the seat beside him. Teddy walked over and sat down gladly. Harry was the first person to ask him how _he_ was feeling about Hogwarts that morning.

"No, I can't wait to get there." His eyes lit up for the first time that day. "I can't believe I'm actually going! I want to see all the moving staircases and talk to all those portraits. I really want to get to Herbology. Neville's showed me some of those plant, and I want can't wait to see the rest of them." He grinned excitedly at Harry. "Besides, I'm dying to use the map and cloak you've given me. And I'll finally meet new people that I'm not related to." He glanced at the crowd of Weasleys.

"They're pretty overwhelming sometimes, aren't they?" Harry said, smiling slightly. "Corned beef I suppose?" he asked, gesturing at the sandwiches Teddy still clutched. "Ron always hated those. On his first time, Percy was showing off his Prefect badge, Fred and George were being funny and Ginny was pointing at me like I was a zoo attraction, if I remember correctly." He grinned. "Molly was trying to rub some dirt off Ron's nose like he was still a kid. His ears were glowing red until he got into the compartment. I bet he was extremely relieved to get on the train."

"I don't blame him," Teddy muttered. He played with his fingers, not meeting Harry's eyes. "I just wish I had a more _normal_ family. Just a Mum and a Dad and maybe a brother or a sister hugging me and saying they'll miss me when they saw me off. Then everyone else wouldn't _stare_."

"Why don't you keep your hair a less conspicuous colour for a while? It might help with the staring," Harry suggested.

"I can't concentrate enough to change it. Not with all the noise."

Harry nodded. If anyone understood about unwanted attention, it was him. "You know, on my first time to Hogwarts, my aunt and uncle just dropped me at the station and drove away. I had to figure out how to get onto the platform and quite a few people stared at me then because I was a scrawny eleven-year-old lugging a big trunk and an owl around all by myself. They were all giving me this 'why doesn't he have his parents to help' look. It was the first time I got stared at. When I was sitting in my compartment all alone, all I could see were all those lucky kids being seen off by their parents; parents who'd miss them when they were gone and whom they could write to." He smiled, his eyes melancholy. "One of the memories I use to conjure a patronus sometimes is how I felt when I got my first Christmas presents from the Weasleys. Getting on the train was a bit easier for the next five years after that. Well, people still stared, of course, but it wasn't because I was just a kid trying to get onto the train all alone with no one to see me off. The Weasleys might attract a lot of attention, but I'll always be grateful to them for making me feel normal – like I had a real family, even if it wasn't like everyone else's.

"You have to forgive them for being so excited about you going to Hogwarts. It's a big moment for us all. We thought all of this would be impossible you know – the whole grow up, have kids, send them to Hogwarts, have a happily ever after. You'll understand why when you grow up a bit and see more than just how absolutely mortifying they are. I know that right now, it seems like I'm just preaching to you to be grateful for what you have or to appreciate the effort they're all making for you," he added quickly, "but it's more than that. One day, you'll get it. You'll know why _you_ going to Hogwarts means so much to us."

He patted Teddy on the back. "Come on, let's get you on the train. You're a Lupin and a Metamorphmagus, the staring will never stop. Just smile at them all and shrug it off," he said bracingly.

The whistle blew loudly, and Harry led Teddy back to all the others. The Weasleys all rushed to him for one last, excited goodbye.

"Bye Teddy!"

"Don't forget to write!"

"If you've forgotten anything, just send us an owl."

"See you at Christmas."

There was a flurry of enthusiastic hugging, waving, shouting and last-minute kisses from all his aunts. Strangely enough, Teddy found himself waving back just as enthusiastically.

He jumped on the train, relieved to be getting away from the disastrous send-off. This was it. He was finally off to Hogwarts.

As the train pulled out of the station and he made his way down the corridor, hunting for a compartment, he bumped into a boy who looked to be about his own age.

"Oh sorry. I didn't see you there," he apologised.

"That's alright. Looking for a compartment? Mine's got some empty seats. Just follow me if you'd like to sit there. You're starting at Hogwarts this year too?" the boy asked pleasantly.

"Yes I am," Teddy answered with a smile. He liked the look of this boy and followed him. "I'm Teddy Lupin."

"I'm David Bradley." He glanced at Teddy's hair. "Was that your family out there on the platform?"

Teddy went red. "Sort of. I'm not related to them, but I've grown up with them all my life."

David nodded understandingly. "I lost my Dad in the war too. He was a Muggleborn and he was on the run. He never saw me at all. It's just me and my Mum now." He looked wistful. "Must be nice to have such a large family. I thought it was cool how they all came just to see you off."

Teddy's hair turned red as he thought about the Weasleys. "Yeah, I guess they're alright."

David was staring at Teddy's hair. "That was so cool! How did you do that? Your hair was green and it just changed to red."

Teddy grinned. "That's not all I can do," he said as they reached their compartment. "Check this out."

But even as he showed off, Teddy thought about David's comments on his family. When he thought about it, David was kind of right. He was happy to be away from them, happy to have the excitement of Hogwarts all to himself, but he had to admit, they were a cool bunch of people to care so much about him.

He had to admit he'd miss them.

**X-X-X**

"James, write to me. Promise you'll write!" a little girl squealed, her voice audible over the din of the noisy platform.

Teddy grinned and pulled a flustered James away from a very petulant Lily. "Don't worry, Lily. I'll make sure he writes every day," he assured her.

"James dear, you forgot your lunch," Molly hurried over to them and pushed a packet of sandwiches into James' hands.

"Merlin, Grandma Molly, I'll just buy lunch from the trolley. I won't starve or anything," James said, annoyed at all the fuss his family was making.

"James, have you packed your jumper? I didn't check if it was there," Ginny said, moving towards James' trunk.

He grabbed his trunk and dragged it away from her. "Er, I'm sure it's in there, Mum."

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes," he insisted. He glanced uncomfortably around at the students passing by. All of them were smiling at the sight of James surrounded by his parents, grandparents and two younger siblings hanging on to his limbs. "Can we get on the train?" he muttered to Teddy. "Please, let's get away from all of them. They're really embarrassing." He tried to move a little farther away from the crowd of redheads grouped around him.

Teddy grinned. "Yeah, that's how I felt the first time too. You've just got to learn the fine art of extraction," he advised James. "Alright, Weasleys and Potters, we're going to get on the train now. See you all at Christmas," he announced and pulled James along with him.

The mass of redheads grouped around the two boys at Teddy's declaration. Hugs were exchanged, sweets were discreetly slipped into pockets and there was a lot of mad waving.

"So soon?"

"Take care you two."

"Don't get into too much trouble this year."

"Write to me James!"

Teddy laughed and waved happily at them all as he helped James jump on the train. "Teddy!" He looked up to see David coming towards them. "Hello James. Looks like we finally have a Potter to add to the madcap bunch already going to Hogwarts," he said, nodding at James. "You've been babysitting little cousins on this train for five years now," he added to Teddy. "Did you have to bring one more on your last year too?"

"I don't need to be looked after," James said indignantly. "I can find a compartment on my own, thanks."

"Make sure you find Fred too, I'd rather not have you both wandering around on your own," Teddy called after his younger cousin as James set off down the corridor.

"He looks happy to be away from all his cousins, by the looks of it," David grinned.

Teddy nodded. "They are horribly embarrassing the first time. James doesn't have it too bad, though. Uncle Charlie isn't here and all the others have their own kids to be putting on the train. My first trip was a nightmare; I was the centre of all the attention."

"I suppose you'll have to give him the Cloak and Map this year? I'm going to miss it."

"He deserves to have it. He needs the Cloak more than we do anyway. As for the Map, I think he already nicked it from Harry's drawer. I'd put it there during summer and I was going to give it to him as a birthday present in June but I never found it when I went back to find it." Teddy shook his head. "Hogwarts won't know what hit it with him and Fred around."

David laughed. "Let the kids have fun. Anyway, I found a compartment up the train. Jeff and Stanley are already setting up an Exploding Snap marathon. You want to see them before you have to go over to the Prefects' carriage?" he asked.

Teddy glanced out the door at the Weasleys. "You go ahead. I'll be along after the introductory meeting. If you see Fred and James, bully them into turning out their pockets. I wouldn't put it past them to be planning some trick or the other already."

David nodded and left with a wave at the Weasleys. Teddy smiled indulgently at the crowd of people he'd come to regard as his own family. He finally understood what Harry had been trying to tell him: that he was a living reminder that they'd won the war. The fact that he was going to Hogwarts was proof of their victory and that made them the enthusiastic, completely chaotic bunch they always were on the platform.

He'd found them just as annoying as James had at first. He'd been complaining about them the first couple of years; but somewhere along the way, he'd appreciated how much they meant to him.

He had realised that he'd much rather have his absolutely humiliating, fussy, crazy, loud family standing there on the platform, happy to see him get on the train and even happier to see him get off it, than have nobody there at all.

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><p><strong>Do leave me a review :) I'd love to hear what you thought about this! This was for the Fanfiction Wizard Tournament<strong>


	11. I'll Be There For You

**I've never written these two before so I'd love it if you reviewed and gave me some feedback :)**

**And a big thank you to Morning Lilies for beta-ing this!**

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><p>"Hermione! It's good to see yeh. I was just cooking lunch. Come on in, it's chilly ou'." Hagrid stepped aside to let Hermione in. She smiled gratefully and stepped across the threshold, brushing the snow off her shoulders. She took her hat and gloves off and settled herself in the large armchair by the fire. Some sort of stew was boiling away on the stove. It smelled good and filled the cabin with a rich, spicy warmth as Hagrid stirred it.<p>

"I just wanted to give you these, Hagrid," she said, opening her bag. "I've made some more notes and got you a couple of books you could use for the hearing." She pulled two large tomes out of her bag along with a thick stack of parchment. "It's not specifically about a Hippogriff, but there's some good material about unintentional injuries by a magical beast where the creature has been let off." She was talking quicker than usual, Hagrid noticed. "It's been a few years since a hearing like this but the point is that precedent does exist."

"Thanks a lot, Hermione," Hagrid said, wiping his hands on his apron and taking the material gratefully from her. He frowned slightly. She kept playing with the ends of her hair – a habit she only had when something was bothering her. "Yeh've bin a great help."

"Just remember to keep calm and read through everything. Don't get impatient or angry at the hearing. It's bound to be unfair if Malfoy's involved but the law should be above any manipulation," she advised.

Hagrid merely nodded. He didn't think as highly of the courts as Hermione did did. He wanted so badly to believe her though. He set the material down in a workbasket beside the window that held his knitting – it looked like he was making a very large scarf or a small tablecloth. He glanced out the window. "It's beginning ter snow pretty hard now. Stay here fer a bit; it looks like it'll clear up in a while," he said. "How 'bout I make yeh a cuppa? Nothin' like a good mug o' steaming hot chocolate on a snowy afternoon."

Hermione nodded and he took the stew off the stove, busying himself with the kettle. She pulled out two more books, parchment and writing material and spread it all out on the table. Hagrid groaned. "Ah come on, take a break, Hermione. Yeh'll kill yerself with all tha' work. It can' hurt to take a couple o' hours off. We can have a nice chat."

"There's no time to waste. I've got so much work left." She looked up and Hagrid noticed that she seemed paler and more tired than usual. She'd been coming down to his hut alone a lot since Christmas. He had thought that since Harry's Firebolt had been returned, whatever had cracked between the three of them might be mended but it didn't look like they had resolved their differences.

"That looks awfully hard," he said, peering down at the Arithmancy textbook she had open. "I hope Professor Vector's a good teacher."

"Oh she is! Arithmancy isn't as hard as people say it is, really. Most wizards have never gone to Muggle school, so they wouldn't have done more than basic Maths but it really is similar to that. The books are very good too; you can learn almost everything from them! There's a lot of information about everything in the Hogwarts library. Just look at how much data we've got just for your trial," Hermione gushed, her eyes lighting up the way they always did at the mention of a book.

"It seems like too much work ter do, though," Hagrid observed, eyeing the other books and the stack of notes which was almost as thick as a book itself.

"It's okay, I'm managing," Hermione sighed. She looked exhausted. "I lose a couple of hours sleep every other day but I'm…managing."

"Harry an' Ron would help with the trial, if yeh asked. Seems like yeh've bin feelin' quite lonely and blue withou' them," Hagrid ventured carefully. The kettle let out a shrill whistle at that moment. When he turned around from the stove, Hermione was staring at the book in her lap, tracing the text.

"Did you know, Hagrid," she began, her voice low and thoughtful, "there are many theories for the origin of the phrase 'feeling blue'? Some people say it's because sailors in the navy would paint a blue stripe around their boats and raise a blue flag if someone died. Others say that it came from the sky being that dull blue colour just before it rained and rain, according to Greek myths, occurred because Zeus, lord of the skies, was crying." She looked up at him, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. "I learnt all that from books. I've learnt a lot from books actually. But ever since I was five, I've been looking for a book that would teach me how to be friends and I haven't yet found one." She sniffed and rubbed at the tears falling fast down her face. She fished about for her handkerchief, pushing away her homework so it wouldn't smudge as a few pearly tears splashed onto the table.

"I've never had friends before," she hiccoughed. "No one liked me. They all called me a know-it-all or a swot or a teacher's pet and made fun of me. I was so happy when… when Harry and Ron…. I tried - so hard - to be nice to them. I didn't scold too much when they broke the rules; I stood up for them; I thought I was a good friend." She looked up at Hagrid. "Friends are meant to care about each other's safety. That's the only reason I went to McGonagall about the Firebolt. What if it had been cursed and Harry had been killed? I wasn't looking to spoil their fun or anything; I was just trying to be a good friend! How was I supposed to look out for him _and_ not tell on him about the Firebolt?" She buried her face in her handkerchief, shoulders shaking.

"Ah Hermione, don' cry." Hagrid knelt in front of her. He knew what it was like to try hard to have friends. "Yeh're a wonderful friend. Harry an' Ron know that. They're just boys; they'll understand that yeh were only trying ter do what yeh thought was fer the best. Yeh was right ter go ter McGonagall. Sirius Black's dangerous an' Harry an' Ron just didn't realise how serious the matter was because they were so happy to see the bes' broom in the world. Yeh're all good friends. A little figh' over a broomstick won't ruin that," he assured her.

"Ron thinks Crookshanks ate Scabbers!" Hermione burst out. She looked angry now. "He insults me all the time! He calls me a know-it-all, he insults my cat, he makes fun of me so often, and I'm supposed to just pretend none of that hurts? But I say one thing against his stupid rat and he gets all angry about it," she snapped. "Just because he found a bunch of cat hairs in his dormitory and he can't find Scabbers, he thinks it's all my fault."

Hagrid looked surprised. "Scabbers is missing?"

"And there was blood on his sheets, but that could be from anything. Ron could have scratched himself sometime and never realised," Hermione said stubbornly. She rubbed the tears away and twisted her handkerchief fiercely in her hands - almost as if she was imagining it to be Ron's neck.

"Well yeh're not ter blame for tha'," Hagrid said. "I mean, I know that Ron was fond of his pet –"

"He never did anything but complain about Scabbers," Hermione interjected angrily.

"Ah, people are a little mad abou' their pets, Hermione. But he can't be angry at _you _fer it. It's not yer fault," Hagrid said. "He'll see tha' once he's calmed down a bit."

"But what if it is, Hagrid? What if Crookshanks _did_ eat Scabbers?" She sounded anxious and the tiniest bit guilty. "Maybe I should have kept an eye on him. I knew he kept going for Scabbers. I could have kept him in my dormitory all the time. I could have trained him better or – or kept him on a leash. Maybe even with the Firebolt, I could have warned them about it first, but they just don't listen! Am I doing it all wrong? Maybe I'm just not meant to have friends. I don't know anything about the rules of friendship or how it works." She had stood up and started pacing around. She stopped at the window, leaning her elbows against the sill and gazed at the snow swirling past. "Someone should just write a book telling me how to be a good friend."

"Tha's nonsense," Hagrid declared. Hermione turned to face him. He led her back to the armchair and settled down on the rug in front of her. He wasn't as smart as her, but he did know a bit about being a friend. "Friendship isn't something yeh can learn out of a book. It's got no rules, no rhyme or reason. There are all kinds of friends. Ron's the kind that'll just be excited for his friend. Yeh're the kind that looks out for 'em; yeh make sure they don't get in too much trouble. If followin' Harry an' Ron to find the Philosopher's Stone or setting a teacher on fire to get him to stop jinxing a broom or helping them figure out abou' the Chamber of Secrets even if it got yeh Petrified don't make yeh a good friend, then I'm a Flobberworm!" He looked at her kindly. "Everyone makes fun of people who're differen' from them, Hermione. It's not tha' Ron don' like yeh, it's jus' he don' know what ter make of yeh sometimes. I didn't have many friends in school either. But the ones who _did_ wan' ter be around me and have fun with me will never leave me. Harry an' Ron will come 'round, just yeh wait and see."

He patted her hand a bit clumsily with his massive one and walked over to the stove, returning with two big mugs of hot chocolate. "Professor Lupin swears by chocolate to help with bad moods." He picked up a box from the windowsill she'd been leaning against and opened it. "My Niffler class fer the fourth-years got cancelled. I've still got the chocolate." He offered her a big bar of Honeydukes' best. "It should cheer yeh right up." She accepted the mug and the candy with a small smile.

"And besides," he added, "I'll always be yer friend, Hermione. Yeh've helped me out with Buckbeak so much even though yeh've got all that extra work. I'll never forge' that."

She nodded gratefully at him. "Thank you," she said softly. She wiped away the last few tears as she pulled her homework back towards her and he returned to his cooking. Hagrid was right. What was friendship without a couple of fights? Maybe if she gave it a bit more time, it _would_ all resolve itself.

"Besides," Hagrid said suddenly with a wink. "It can't be all tha' long before Harry an' Ron need to borrow yer History of Magic notes. They'll have ter make up with you then."

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><p><strong>Please review :) It would make my day!<strong>

**This is for the Math Assessment in Fanfiction School. The prompts to be used were chocolate, Rubeus Hagrid, friendship, blue, windowsill and cooking.**


	12. Change Is Inevitable

**So this is something different. Do review and let me know what you thought!**

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><p>Albus could barely contain his excitement. "Are you sure the notice said 'Nicolas Flamel'?"<p>

Elphias rolled his eyes exasperatedly. "For the last time, Albus, yes! I _can_ read, you know."

Albus smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry. You must forgive my enthusiasm. It's just that -"

"You've always wanted to meet him ever since you read about his Philosopher's Stone, I know." Elphias smiled indulgently.

"I can't believe he's taking a guest lecture for our Alchemy class." Albus said enthusiastically. "That too the introductory lesson for the whole course! Imagine how much we'll learn."

"Let's go. Class starts in a few minutes anyway," Elphias said. The two boys made their way to the Alchemy classroom and took seats at the front.

Unseen by the students, Nicolas Flamel was standing concealed in the doorway that led to the adjoining office. There were only five students taking the class, he noticed. It was more than he'd been expecting, honestly. The subject was daunting enough to scare off even the brightest students.

He regarded the two boys who had arrived first. The taller boy with the piercing blue eyes was tapping his quill on the table impatiently and continuously glancing at the clock. He had a very confident air about him - the kind that came with prodigious intelligence. Nicolas straightened his robes and glanced down at the lesson plan he was holding. It was almost time. The bell rang shrilly, the sound echoing through the corridors and he stepped out of the shadows.

He started by taking attendance simply to learn the students' names. When he was done, he closed the register and smiled at them all. "Good morning," he said with a British accent that had taken him a few years to perfect. "I'm glad to see the five of you here. You're brave souls to be taking up this subject." The five students applauded; the blue-eyed boy – Dumbledore - more enthusiastically than the others.

"So you've all elected to study alchemy. There have been hundreds before you who have studied this subject for their whole lifetimes and understood only the bare minimum. Scholars and scientists among Muggles and wizards alike have been working on unravelling the secrets of this mysterious subject for millennia. Alchemy was one of the only forms of sorcery that was not feared by society. In fact, it was encouraged - in secret during times like the days of witch burnings - but always promoted mostly by the rich and royal of the day. Man's greed for the wealth and health promised by the alchemists overcame his fear of magic and unknown powers. The quest for the Philosopher's Stone has been undertaken by civilizations across the world."

Nicolas drew a small ruby red stone from his pocket. "Wars have been fought, great improvements have been made in science and stories have been written - all because of the quest to create this." Five pairs of eyes gazed at the stone he held, fascinated. "The Philosopher's Stone. The key to an eternity of good health and riches." He slipped it back into his pocket. "Now that you've seen what the ultimate goal of alchemy looks like, I will give you a quick look at the path you need to take to get there."

He glanced at the clock. He was running behind a little bit. He'd already spent ten minutes out of the two hours allotted to him. He shuffled his lesson plans. "What you will learn over the next two years will be the simplest concepts of Alchemy. To create a Stone, you'll need to work for about thirty years. In this course, you will learn the most basic principle of alchemy which I will explain in today's class. Initially, you will read about famous alchemists – successful and unsuccessful. There are many ways of creating a Stone and you will study about all of them. You will research why some of them failed and why some succeeded. You'll learn about the conditions required to perform an alchemical process. Each of the functions of a Philosopher's Stone can be created separately. You will learn the basics of how to make each one work and why they can't be combined in all situations.

"You will find out what causes matter to behave the way it does and how to change the way it behaves. You will learn why alchemy is different and more complex than Transfiguration, Charms or Potions which also involve changing objects from one to another. You'll be taught the difficulties and consequences of alchemy – in great detail. You'll learn why, in so many millennia of research and work by hundreds of alchemists; very few have managed to create a Stone. You'll understand how a Philosopher's Stone works and what is at its core. It's not all about magic. Muggle alchemists have also succeeded in creating Stones. And finally, you'll learn why successful alchemists have not put their Stones to use curing diseases all over the world or eradicating poverty. All of this will be taught by Professor Byrnes who is an excellent teacher.

"Of course, at the end of the course, you will still not have learnt enough to make your own Stone."

The students stared at him with rapt attention, their quills poised over their books. Dumbledore was sitting on the edge of his seat, he noticed. He liked the look of that boy. He continued. "Today's introductory class is going to be split into two parts. We have about a hundred minutes remaining. For sixty minutes, I will teach you the most important principle behind alchemy and give you a brief explanation of how it works. I'll tell you a little bit about how to implement that principle and where magic comes in. For the rest of the lesson, we'll have a little demonstration of that principle and you'll all be allowed to experiment with it. You can ask me questions at any time." He paused and when no one spoke he went on. "Right, let's get started. What is the first thing that comes to your mind when I say alchemy?"

"Nicolas Flamel," grinned a boy called Edward Thomson.

"Changing lead to gold," Dumbledore said.

Nicolas pointed at Dumbledore. "Mr Dumbledore is on the right track. Chrysopoeia is the official name for that process. The basic premise behind alchemy is _change._

"Alchemy is all about changing an element from one form to another. Lead or any base metal is changed to gold; old and dying cells in the body are changed to new and healthy ones and strong material is changed to dissolved molecules. That's what alchemy is all about. Now this is not very different from a branch of Muggle science called chemistry." He walked up to the teacher's table where a few glass containers had been set up. He picked up a beaker containing a blue liquid. "This is a solution of blue vitriol. See what happens when I add a small piece of common iron into it." He dropped a small piece of iron into the beaker and shook it. The liquid inside started turning green. "This has now turned into green vitriol which is an entirely different compound from the blue vitriol that was initially in this container."

"But sir," Dumbledore said, raising his hand. "Why is this different to what we do in Potions? Why is alchemy so difficult? We can always transfigure lead to gold so why is it so hard?"

Nicolas nodded. "That's a good question. This is quite similar to what you do in Potions. You combine a number of ingredients to create something new. In Transfiguration, you changethe structure of something to create something else. Alchemy is a combination of both.

"The difference between alchemy and the other two subjects is the permanence. You must have noticed that Transfigured objects slowly return to their original state. Potions often congeal or take on strange properties over time. However, alchemically changed objects retain their changed nature forever. You see, change is inevitable. It's how long the change lasts that really matters. Alchemy yields stable change. This is very important."

Dumbledore nodded slowly in comprehension. "It would be disastrous if a potion meant to heal the body wore off after a while," he said softly.

"Exactly. Alchemy combines concepts of Potions to create the gold from lead and the concepts of Transfiguration to make that change permanent. The idea of changing metals from one to another is rooted in the fact that they are made of tiny objects called atoms. This is a concept that has been recorded in ancient Indian and Greek civilizations. Using the theories of Potions such as the amount of heat and pressure needed to combine elements and the theories of Transfiguration that tell us how to change the structure of these elements, alchemy works by forcing the atoms of base metals to combine or break up until their structure matches that of gold.

"The elixir of life also works the same way. Cells are forced to change until their structure matches that of a healthy cell. Alkahest or the universal solvent forces objects to break down into smaller and smaller pieces. And all of this change is permanent; it's stable."

"I still don't understand why this is so hard," interjected Dumbledore. "It sounds like all you need is a little heat and some pressure."

Nicolas smiled at him. "You'll see why in a few minutes when we start the experiments. But as you've pointed out, that is all you need. That's why Muggles have been successful alchemists too." He picked up a coiled spring from his table and pushed it down. "Am I changing the structure of this spring now?" he asked.

A couple of students muttered, "Sort of."

He removed his hand. The spring flew off the table and hit Elphias in the forehead. "My apologies, Mr Doge," Nicolas grinned as the class laughed. He retrieved the spring. "This is the natural reaction to change. It is always resisted. If it's not strong enough, the changed object will revert to its natural state. The trick is to bring an object to a state which it finds stable. A successful, good, _desirable_ change is a permanent change. Otherwise, as Mr Doge can tell you, the consequences can hurt.

"I hope you've understood what alchemy is all about. Let's try to see some of this everlasting change happen right here. Mr Dumbledore, why don't we start with you? Come up here please."

Albus walked up to the front, looking excited. Nicolas handed him a small, rubbery, transparent ball. "This was invented by a friend of mine called Isaac Newton who liked to dabble in alchemy. Sadly, he is no more but he gave me a box full of this to play with. I want you to apply pressure with a simple spell on this ball. The inside of the ball will heat up as you make it smaller."

Albus nodded and pointed his wand at the ball. He frowned as it grew smaller and smaller, pushed inwards by his spell. It started glowing, first orange, then red and finally to a bluish white. He persisted until suddenly, the ball exploded. He and all the other students backed away with cries of shock. Nicolas walked forward slowly and picked up the remains of the ball and motioned for Albus to return to his seat. "That, class, is what happens when you force something to change. Nothing likes to change when it is already stable. If you push it, it will resist until it either gives in or explodes. Most alchemists die in explosions. Do you understand why it's so hard now?"

Everyone nodded fervently. Nicolas handed around a different set of orbs to everyone. "Try applying pressure to this," he instructed.

A girl named Maud Williamson picked up her orb. "Is this coal inside it?"

"That's right. What you're going to do isn't really alchemy but just a demonstration of permanent change." He watched as they all applied pressure to their orbs slowly.

It took them a while, but as Nicolas had expected, Dumbledore was the first to finish. "It's diamond!" he exclaimed. He examined the stone inside his orb with awe. "It's turned into diamond."

"Very good, Mr Dumbledore. This is not true alchemy of course. The base element did not change to something else. That diamond is still a lump of carbon. However, the structure changed to create a precious stone." He pulled out his Philosopher's Stone again. "You see the glow in the middle? That is the magic in this Stone. It can be created without it of course, as Muggles have demonstrated. However, there has to be some energy that brings about the change and _that_ is central to the Stone. It's the soul of the Stone.

"So I hope you've understood how important change is to alchemy. You may pack up; it's almost time for the bell." The bell rang right on cue and the students filed out, thanking him on the way. He smiled and nodded at each of them. As Dumbledore approached him, he held out a hand. "Mr Dumbledore, if you have a few minutes, I have a proposition for you. How would you like to do some research in alchemy?"

**X-X-X**

"The Philosopher's Stone. The key to an eternity of good health and riches." Nicolas sighed as he set the Stone on the table.

"It has to be destroyed, Nicolas," Albus said gently. "Voldemort cannot be allowed to find it again."

Nicolas nodded. "I have enough elixir stored to take care of a few things. I'll be fine."

Albus sighed. "You won't be _fine_, Nicolas. You'll die."

"I've had a long, long life, Albus. I know I taught you that alchemy results in permanent change but nothing lasts forever. I've known this day would come sometime. It's not so bad, I've had a full life."

"Our friendship was something I'd expected never to change, Nicolas," Albus admitted.

"Change is inevitable. Permanent change is good."

"I remember what you taught me in my first alchemy class. My memory is still good. This just isn't _desirable_ change."

Nicolas laughed. "Perhaps not for you; but it is so for hundreds of people who would die if I do not and Voldemort comes back to power."

"I could hide you. You could hide yourself. You've been doing it for over five hundred years now," suggested Albus.

Nicolas smiled kindly. "Albus, we both know that I must give up my immortality. If my death brings some stability to the world, well, my life as an alchemist will have been of some use." He patted Albus' hand. "Give my thanks to the Potter boy for saving my Stone. He is like that lump of coal I gave you all in your very first alchemy class. I know that you're going to put him under much pressure and heat for the next few years. Make sure he doesn't explode Albus. Make sure he turns into something beautiful instead."

Albus nodded. "I'll visit you as often as I can." _While I still can. _"I'll miss you, old friend."

"Who are you calling old? I'm not a day over sixty," Nicolas joked. "I hope I don't see you again for many, many more years."

"I hope so too, Nicolas. I sincerely hope so too," Albus sighed.

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><p><strong>This was for the Science Assessment 1 for the Fanfiction School. I hope you didn't get too bored! Do review and let me know what you thought :)<strong>


	13. True Gryffindor

**Please review :)**

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><p>Neville rubbed his eyes and looked around him. He was sitting on the staircase leading up to the North Tower, he realised. He glanced at his watch. There were still twenty minutes of lunch break left. Twenty minutes that he needed to spend away from the rest of the school.<p>

He'd never admit it out loud, but he'd always wanted to be Harry Potter. He wanted to have the adventures that Harry did or be famous like him. He wanted to be good at magic like Harry and have people look up to him.

But that morning, the paper had arrived with the terrible news of a mass breakout from Azkaban. Not many students had seen the article in the morning but by the end of break, everyone knew about it. Longbottom wasn't a well-known name in Pureblood circles and everyone had made the connection when they saw Bellatrix Lestrange's crime. Neville didn't really want to be like Harry anymore. The staring and pointing and whispering were too much to handle. He hadn't been able to stand it by lunchtime. He'd skipped lunch and wandered around the castle, trying to find someplace where no one would give him that _look_ and he'd ended up where he sat now – at the bottom of the North Tower.

He couldn't believe Bellatrix Lestrange had escaped. He had nightmares about her. He'd never seen her except in pictures, but there was a madness in her eyes that scared him. If she was around – well, he really wished he was better at magic now.

A sudden grunting startled him out of his thoughts. He looked around; the staircase was deserted. The grunting was louder now. Neville stood up and pulled out his wand, trying to remember the spells Harry was teaching them in the DA meetings. There was nothing around him except for a painting on the wall. A woman in an ugly, honeydew coloured dress was dozing in the painting, slumped against the frame. The grunting was getting louder; it was accompanied by a strange clanking sound. It seemed to be coming from the walls. Neville backed away towards the railing, his heart pounding when suddenly a small knight jumped into the woman's painting and landed on her head.

She shrieked and woke up immediately. "My humblest apologies, dear lady!" the knight shouted. "I am in search of my faithful steed and did not mean to startle you." He noticed Neville as the lady grumbled and drew a sword that was too big for him. "What are you staring at, boy?" he demanded. He spotted the wand in Neville's hand. "Challenge me to a duel, would you? Be warned, boy, I am as good with my wand as I am with my sword." He waved his overlarge sword threateningly, nearly chopping off the lady's hair.

Neville stared at him, confused. He put his wand away, seeing that there was no danger. "I'm not challenging you to anything. I was just minding my own business when you showed up here." He moved closer to the painting. "I know you," he said. "You're that mad knight who changed the passwords every day. Sir Cadogan."

"Mad? Mad? You dare insult me?" Cadogan waved his sword again and earned a look from the lady in the painting. He sheathed his sword immediately. "We shall settle our fight in my painting!" he declared, disappearing into the wall the way he'd dropped into the lady's painting.

Neville stared at the wall in disbelief. He could still hear the knight yelling at him. He was due in Divination in a few minutes anyway; he decided to follow Sir Cadogan. He found him striding around in his own painting. The knight swung his sword at Neville and promptly fell over. Neville couldn't help smiling.

"How dare you laugh at _me_, you mangy boy!" Cadogan shouted.

"You're as batty as ever," Neville told him. He remembered how much he disliked the knight. "I was having a hard enough time remembering passwords. _You_ came along and kept changing them to something ridiculous every day! It's all your fault I was disgraced that year."

"You had an abysmal memory, boy. I remember you now. You were that boy who used to have trouble with magic," Cadogan shot back, still struggling with his sword. "You weren't very good at upholding good Sir Gryffindor's legacy."

Neville's shoulders slumped. "That's right," he said, dejectedly. "I'm a terrible Gryffindor. I don't know why the Hat put me in there at all." Bellatrix Lestrange's face flashed before his eyes. "Everyone's better than me at spells and stuff. I can't even uphold my parents' legacy, let alone Godric Gryffindor's."

Cadogan stopped struggling to pull his sword out of the ground. "Your parents were famous wizards?" he asked.

"They were the most popular Aurors of their time. A Death Eater named Bellatrix Lestrange tortured them till they lost their minds. They don't even know who I am now. I bet they'd be ashamed of me too, if they could recognise me." He sat down on the step in front of Cadogan's painting. "Lestrange escaped from prison yesterday. My parents would have been out there tracking her down. _I_ on the other hand, can't do more than find out which plants could poison her or something like that." He didn't know why he was telling Cadogan all this. He was just tired of thinking about all the horrible things in his life and just wanted to get it all off his chest.

Sir Cadogan, surprisingly, looked understanding. "I know all about people not thinking you're any good," he said, settling down on the grass in his picture. "My fellow knights and I served under King Arthur himself! They all thought I was mad and reckless. They did not recognise my bravery. My father was a carpenter. He thought I was stupid to be going off fighting. My first few adventures ended terribly. I saved no villages from plunder and made a fool of myself. No one thought I was much good either."

Neville looked up, surprised at Cadogan's confession. "But you know what happened?" the knight continued. "I encountered the Wyvern of Wye. He ate my steed and broke my sword and wand. I was lucky to escape alive from the creature. All the knights expected me to return where they could laugh at my foolhardiness and talk about my failures. My pride would not allow that. I was a brave knight and I would prove my worth to them. I found a pony in a field and rode back and defeated the Wyvern." He brandished his sword wildly to emphasize his story. "Do not despair, boy. The day will come when you can prove your worth and bravery too!"

Neville opened his mouth to respond but suddenly, Cadogan's fat pony galloped across the painting and out of the opposite frame. "My trusty steed!" Cadogan exclaimed. "Here, noble sir is the chance to show your courage. My pony is headed to the painting of the wild dogs! I may have need of your assistance on this quest. Follow me!" He ran out of the frame. Neville was absolutely bewildered by the turn of events but he dashed up the stairs anyway.

"The worst is yet to come!" Sir Cadogan yelled as he raced through a painting of an ugly old woman drinking a cup of tea. Neville was strongly reminded of Umbridge. He ran, panting, up the dizzying staircase. "The dogs are just ahead. Gather your courage," called Cadogan as Neville passed a painting of a large mansion. He heard a loud whinnying ahead and came to a stop in front of a painting of three wild hounds, much larger than Cadogan or his pony. The horse had fallen at the feet of one of the dogs. Neville couldn't tell if it was still alive or not. The dogs presented a frightening sight with large fangs and drool hanging out of their mouths with spiked collars and fierce growls. Cadogan drove his sword into the foot of the closest dog. It let out a howl and snapped at him.

"Do something!" he yelled at Neville. "I cannot defeat the dogs while my pony's life is at stake."

"Er, okay," Neville said. He pointed his wand at the dogs. What was that spell Hermione had taught them to immobilise things? "Er, Incarcerous!" Ropes shot out of his wand and pooled uselessly on the stairs. "Okay, that wasn't the right spell." He cursed his memory. "Vitalus!" He waved his wand at the portrait.

To his horror, the dogs jumped _out_ of the portrait and snarled, regarding him. He took a step backward, almost tripping over the ropes he'd conjured. "Okay, that was _definitely_ not the right spell," he muttered. He started backing away slowly.

"Be brave, good sir!" Cadogan snapped at him. "You have it in you. You accompanied me on this perilous quest; that is a mark of your daring. Defeat the dogs! Think of how proud you will make your parents if they were as great wizards as you say."

Neville thought about his parents lying in the hospital. They _would_ be proud if he somehow got out of this mess alive. The dogs were studying him, waiting to attack. He thought about Bellatrix Lestrange and something awoke in him. He felt warm all over. His parents had fought with all their might to save him from Lestrange. Couldn't he even save himself from three dogs? He was a Longbottom. He could do this. He would not be unprepared and weak anymore.

He raised his wand just as the first dog leaped at him. "Stupefy!" he shouted. His spell missed and he ducked, looking up just in time to see the jet of red light hit the _second_ dog which crumpled to the ground. He barely had time to be amazed before the other two dogs jumped at him together. "Stupefy! Stupefy!" he yelled. One spell hit the wall, but the other knocked a dog out. The last hound faced him. "Stupefy!" he shouted again just as the dog bounded at him and finally, his aim was true.

Sir Cadogan surveyed him with a satisfied look. "Well done, good sir." He helped his pony – which was miraculously alive – up and raised his sword. "I will remember your assistance for all eternity."

"I highly doubt I'll live until eternity," Neville said.

"Then I'm sure I will visit your grave," promised Sir Cadogan. "The Sorting Hat made the right choice. You _are _a true Gryffindor, remember that."

_Was that true_? Neville wondered. He had certainly been brave just then. He smiled at the knight gratefully but suddenly, Sir Cadogan started growing bigger and bigger. Neville stepped back, wondering what was going on now. Cadogan's hair grew longer, his eyes grew brighter. The face of Bellatrix Lestrange smirked at Neville suddenly. "You think you can beat me, little Longbottom?" she cackled.

Neville sat up with a start, breathing heavily. He relaxed when he realised it had all just been a dream. He was safe in bed. Bellatrix Lestrange was probably nowhere near Hogwarts.

But that dream had jolted him out of the comfortable life he was living. He wasn't going to be Hogwarts' idiot any more. He'd work harder than ever at the DA, at his grades, at everything! He'd become the wizard he was in his dreams – brave and good at magic. What was it Sir Cadogan had told him? _You are a true Gryffindor_.

It was time he started acting like one.

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><p><strong>So I think I lost track of what I was writing at some point...<strong>

**Do review and let me know what you thought! Don't flame me, please, but do tell me if this was bad or made no sense...**

**This was for the Light and Darkness Competition. The prompts used are honeydew, Stupefy, Trio's fifth year, drinking a cup of tea, Neville Longbottom, eternity, satisfaction, "I'm sure I will visit your grave", and the bonus prompt lifeless pony.**


	14. Anything For You

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed or put this story on their favourites/alerts list!**

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><p>The mildest, drowsiest sister has been known to turn tiger if her sibling is in trouble. ~Clara Ortega<p>

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><p>"What are you doing here?" Severus regarded Petunia Evans suspiciously.<p>

Petunia held on to one of the swing poles, watching him warily. She was afraid, he realised, of what he could do. The sun was setting, casting long shadows across the park. "You come here every evening," she said. It wasn't an accusation, more of an observation.

He nodded. He _was_ in the park every evening, of course, in the hope that Lily might turn up. Today, though, he was staring at the wrong Evans girl. "So?" he asked, defensively.

"You know that's creepy, right?"

Severus blushed. "What's it to you? I'm not going to hurt her or anything."

"You didn't have a problem hurting me."

"That was different. I said I was sorry anyway."

"Only because Lily told you to."

"Whatever."

Thirteen-year-old Petunia regarded the small, scrawny kid with dislike and apprehension. "What's this school like?" she asked suddenly.

Severus looked surprised. "What?"

"This school of yours," she repeated impatiently. "What are the kids like? Are they all like you, knowing about this - this _magic_ stuff – all along or are they like Lily?"

"There are both kinds. Some of them have parents who can do magic too," Snape replied, confused as to where she was going with this conversation.

"So Lily won't feel left out? She won't be behind in the class or anything? She won't be the only one there without any idea about all this, will she?"

"No, I'm sure there'll be at least a couple of others like her," said Snape.

Petunia nodded, taking in the information. She stared at Snape for a minute before she sighed. "Keep an eye on her."

"Excuse me?"

She rolled her eyes. "Does being able to do magic affect your hearing or your brains? Take care of her. Watch her and make sure she doesn't get hurt. I may not be magical, but I've gone to school with Lily for years and I doubt your school is going to be any different. There are still going to be kids who'll make fun of her hair or steal her pencils just for fun and make her cry. She trusts people too easily and gets hurt all the time. I'm not going to be around to help her out through all that. You'd better make sure she's okay." She glared at him coldly. "Schools always have a bully or two who pick on kids who are different. You hurt me just because I'm different from you. What's to say there won't be kids who think Lily's different from them and try to hurt _her_? Since I can't be there, you'd better take care of her."

Severus stared at Petunia, astonished. "You're actually telling me to be friends with her? You hate me."

"Lily's my sister. I'm supposed to do everything I can to take care of her," Petunia replied. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and started walking away. "I hate_ you_, but I do love her."

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><p>"What are you doing here?" Lily asked harshly. Her left hand coiled around the chain of the swing seat while her right reached for her pocket.<p>

Severus held his palms up in surrender. He walked over to the other swing beside her and sat down. "I heard about your mother," he said, eyeing her black dress. "I'm sorry."

"She just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. She couldn't have known terrorists would plant a bomb in the station. It's always crowded, there was nothing anyone could do."

"I'm sorry," Severus repeated.

Lily shrugged. "There are some things even magic can't fix," she said, looking at him dully.

"Lily – I –"

"How were your NEWTs?" she interrupted.

"NEWTs?" Severus asked, distractedly. "They were alright, I suppose. The examiner nearly fell into my cauldron trying to sniff at the potion, but apart from that, it was okay." He made up the anecdote on the spot, trying to get her to smile. Her lips didn't even twitch. He cleared his throat. "How were yours?"

"They were good. I've already applied to the Auror office; I just need the official results."

"I'm sure your Mum would have been proud. She was always chuffed at you being top of the class."

"Hmm."

The silence between them stretched awkwardly. Severus thought of a hundred things to say, trying to decide which one she might be most willing to listen to. "I guess Potter went with you to the funeral." He groaned mentally. That was possibly the worst thing he could blurt out.

She turned to him, a hint of both annoyance and defiance in her eyes. "Yes, he did. Do you have a problem with that?"

"Are you serious about that relationship then?"

"Why do you care? I'm nothing but a Mudblood. You care about my life as much as you would about that of a fly maybe."

Severus got off the swing and stood in front of her. "You _know_ how much I care about you! You've seen how mean Potter is; you've seen what he's done to me! How can you still – Potter's not the kind of guy you want to be with."

"Oh and I suppose you are?" she snapped. She looked up at him, her hand clenched around the swing's chain now. "He's been there for me for the last two years! I sobbed into his shoulder when my Dad died. He made me laugh when I was sad about Petunia. He helped me out when I was stuck with my Transfiguration work. He brought me chocolate when I was sick. _He_ was there for me today. He's been the friend you were supposed to be! He's cleaned up his act, Snape. He's been taking care of me the way you said you would – without giving a damn about my parentage!"

"Lily, I'm sorry! How many more times do you want me to apologize for calling you a – a – that word. It just slipped out, okay? I didn't mean it," Severus protested.

"I suppose it just _slipped_ _out_ that time when you were walking with Avery and Mulciber before the Christmas break? Or how about after lunch that day in March? Oh and what about that other day just before we left school two weeks ago?" Lily said, coldly. She glared at him. "You sure that Confringo in the middle of a station full of innocent Muggles didn't _slip out_ of your wand too?"

The silence was deafening. Snape stared at her, shocked. "How – that was a terrorist attack – all over the news –"

Lily interrupted his spluttering. "That was no terrorist attack and we both know it. Bombs tend to leave shrapnel behind. But that's too trivial a Muggle detail for you lot to remember, isn't it? Who cast the curse? Avery? Macnair? Malfoy? Lestrange? You?"

"How can you think – I would never do something like that!"

"I thought you'd never become one of them either. You were only hanging out with them because they were your housemates. That was your lame excuse back then, wasn't it? I never thought you'd call me a Mudblood; I never thought I was making friends with the man who'd kill people like me eventually when I first met you. I guess I was wrong about a lot of things, wasn't I?"

"I wasn't at the station! I didn't kill your mother or any of those Muggles!" Snape exclaimed. "I wanted to remain friends with you, but you don't understand what it's like to be with the other Slytherins. It's not easy to just ignore them and hang out with you all the time. And don't even get me started on Potter and his cronies jinxing me whenever I get within ten feet of you."

"But you never tried!" Lily shouted. She sprang up from the swing, sending it rocking backwards and advanced towards Snape. "It wouldn't have been easy – life isn't easy - but it was possible! There are about fifty Slytherins but there are only about thirty people in You-Know-Who's band. About half of those are his old friends from school. That leaves only fifteen, out of the fifty Slytherins in the school, who picked the Dark side. Don't you dare blame it on being a Slytherin! You may not know this, or you may have attributed it to your friends just 'having fun', but they used to threaten me since our third year, okay? Mulciber made walking down dungeon corridors for Slughorn's parties a nightmare. Avery made revolting insinuations at me whenever I passed him. Macnair tried to hit me with a couple of curses one time too. I was still your friend despite all of that, wasn't I?" She gave him a look of deepest disgust. "The reason you and I aren't friends anymore isn't because you're a Slytherin or because I'm a Muggleborn or because of James and his friends. It's because you're a spineless git who's more concerned about saving his own skin."

She took a step towards him for every word of her last sentence, forcing him to back off. "You're a coward, Severus Snape. You always got someone else to fight your battles or made excuses to keep your own sorry hide out of trouble. You always pulled sneaky tricks on James and the others – never open, honest ones like theirs. You got me to plant pranks and throw jinxes at them because you were too scared of what they'd do to you. You used to make stupid excuses even to get me away from Petunia because you were scared of her when we were kids. You haven't changed one bit. You're still the same, sad coward you've always been."

"Lily, that's not true. I _do_ care about you. I'd do anything –"

"No you wouldn't. You wouldn't do anything for anyone but yourself." She drew herself up to her full height. "We'll never be friends again, Snape. You see, I'm not a coward, unlike you. I'm going to be fighting gits like you. I'm not scared of anything you lot have to throw at me. You're the enemy. You're _my_ enemy now."

She pulled her wand out and walked straight up to him, shoving the tip into his throat. "You stay the hell away from what's left of my friends and family, understood? You got my mother, but if you tell anyone about my sister, if I hear that she's been hurt by one of you in any way, I will take it out on you, personally." She pushed her wand back into her pocket and started striding away, her eyes burning.

"Lily!" Snape called desperately. "Wait, please!"

"It's Evans to you, Snivellus," she growled, not breaking her stride.

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><p>"What are you doing here?" Petunia demanded, glaring at Severus Snape.<p>

He shrugged. He seemed to have aged a thousand years since the last time she saw him. His eyes were blank and cold. "This was where we spoke last," he said. "Me and Lily."

"Don't you dare say her name," Petunia hissed. "I told you to take care of her. Don't think I didn't notice how she was all dejected when she came home after her fifth year. She told me you weren't friends anymore. All I gave you was one simple task – protect my sister. I should have known better than to trust you."

"There was nothing I could do! You don't understand what the Dark Lord was like. You don't know how terrifying or powerful he is. You're just a –"

"A Muggle, I know that's what you call us. I may not know how strong or scary this guy was, but I still would have done everything I could to save Lily. At least that Dumbledore man was trying to help her. You just ditched her when you found some better friends. I hate you for telling Lily about your stupid world. You're the reason she's dead! Do you know how hard it is to look at that baby and see _her_ eyes staring curiously back at me? But you know what? I'll give him a home because I would do anything for my sister. I would have jumped in front of her if I had to! That's what she did for her kid. That's what you do for the people you love." She gave him a look of utmost contempt and Severus was strongly reminded of the way Lily had looked at him the last time she ever spoke to him.

"You didn't try to save her at all," Petunia said. "You're just a coward, Snape. I hope I never see you again."

She walked away, her words ringing in Snape's ears. _"You were supposed to protect her…Keep an eye on her…one simple task…_you'd_ better make sure she's okay …I love her…coward."_

Snape shook his head. He was going to see Dumbledore straight away. That was the last time anyone would accuse him of being a coward. He'd protect Lily's son. He wouldn't like the boy, but he wasn't going to leave his safekeeping to anyone else as he'd done with her. He'd die to keep him safe if he had to. He'd do anything to keep the boy safe.

Like he should have done for Lily.

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><p><strong>Please do review!<strong>

**I hope this wasn't too OOC. I've always imagined that despite her attitude towards Harry, Petunia hated magic, not her sister. I think she'd have done anything for Lily, even though she tried to bury her feelings under all that jealousy and hatred. She would have felt bad about not being there for her kid sister when she needed her and I think she would have taken the news of Lily's death quite hard, leading her to hate magic even more for taking Lily away from her forever. This is just my head canon of her, though. **

**Anyway, I'd love to hear your feedback on this so just drop me a review :)**

**This was for Fanfiction School, Math Assessment 2**


	15. Being Strong

"I'm fine, Mum!"

Molly watched her six year old daughter try not to wince as she looked at her scraped knee. "Just stay still, Ginny. I'll fix that up for you in a second," she ordered.

Ginny hopped on the spot as she looked over her mother's bent head. She could see the boys in the distance, continuing their game without her. They never waited for her. She was the baby; they wouldn't even play with her if she didn't make them. She couldn't stand around here.

"There, all done. Do you want a kiss or some chocolate?"

Ginny looked distractedly at her mother's anxious face. "Maybe later," she said, running off to join her brothers.

Molly sighed as she stood up and watched her children run around the yard. She had always wanted her daughter to be more dependent on her. She wanted to coddle her, the girl was so young! She wanted to show her how to bake and dress up nicely and tell her all about the ways of men when she was older. She wanted a little girl who could come and cuddle up to her and ask her to fix her cuts and bruises and broken hearts. But Ginny wasn't that kind of girl. No matter how much she was hurting, she refused to show it. She wanted to be one of the boys.

And Molly Weasley just wanted a _girl._

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><p>Growing up with six brothers wasn't easy. Ginny learnt early on, that to be considered one of the boys and taken seriously, she could not show any weakness. If she fell off her broom, she had to brush herself off and get back on. If they played a prank on her, she had to get back at them on her own. If she wanted something badly, she had to use her own cunning to get it. But sometimes, she wished her mum would take care of her.<p>

She couldn't say so, of course. Her brothers already underestimated her so much and left her out because she was the youngest. If she was scared or hurt, she had to pretend she was fine.

"I can go by myself," Ginny argued. "Ron's only a year older and you're letting him Floo alone." She would never admit that she was scared of the green flames and that she actually wanted her mother to take her. She'd never hear the end of it from Fred and George! Besides, she couldn't look ley _Harry Potter_ see her acting like a child.

"Don't be ridiculous, Ginny. You've never Flooed alone before. What if you get out at the wrong grate?" Molly said firmly.

"But I know when to get out. Come on, Mum, just let me try!"

"You're coming with me, young lady, or you can stay at home!"

Ginny put on her best grumpy face as she stood facing the fireplace in the living room the next morning.

"Aw, does ickle Ginny need her Mummy to take her to Diagon Alley?" sang Fred as he stood beside her.

"Shut up. Mum's being impossible," she grumbled.

She'd never admit how much her Mum's hand in hers comforted her.

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><p>"Don't you want to go to Diagon Alley with me, Ginny? We could pick out a nice set of dress robes for you," Molly offered. "You need them this year." She hoped her daughter would say yes. How she longed to go on a nice, giggly, shopping spree with Ginny.<p>

"Are you kidding? The Quidditch World Cup is tomorrow! Besides, Dad's already got the tickets." Ginny stared at her mother as though she'd gone mad.

"Yes, but you'll always have Quidditch," tried Molly.

"It'll never be the _World Cup_," Ginny said. She glanced at Charlie who smirked at her and curtsied behind his mother's back as he walked past. "Besides," she added hurriedly (something that didn't escape Molly's notice), "dressing up is boring."

Molly knew Ginny would never be just a girl, no matter how much she'd like it to be that way. But she also knew what it was like to grow up with brothers and how it felt to need your Mum but not show it just to prove that she was as tough as the boys.

Molly pursed her lips but she didn't protest further. She still went out and bought a pretty dress and put it carefully into her daughter's trunk. When Ginny's excited letter about being asked to the Yule Ball came home, she put together a little makeup bag and sent it with a stern note saying she had better make an effort to look pretty. Some things weren't so silly and girly if your mother made you do them.

She still had the Christmas card with the 'Thank You', the attached photograph of a beaming Ginny all dolled up in her pretty dress robes and the small, lipstick kiss on the corner somewhere in her dresser.

It had been discreetly hidden under a scarf wrapped in inconspicuous brown paper of course.

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><p>Ginny's heart nearly stopped when her mother burst through the door into the dreary kitchen of Grimmauld Place.<p>

"He's going to be all right," she said, her voice weak with tiredness. "He's sleeping. We can all go and see him later. Bill's sitting with him now; he's going to take the morning off work."

Ginny got up and hugged her mother briefly, just registering that George was doing the same. George was being weak, for once, so she could too. She just wanted to hang on to her mother and never let her go. She was so afraid that she might slip through her fingers just like her Dad had almost done a few hours ago. But George let go and sank down beside Fred, trying to make a joke already. She pulled away reluctantly.

"What's that on your hand, dear?" Molly asked, her eyes on Ginny's right hand.

Ginny jammed her hand into her pocket immediately, ignoring the stab of pain that shot up her whole arm. For a moment she was tempted to forget about her brothers in the room and just hug her mother again. She wanted to tell her all the horrible things that had been happening at Hogwarts that year and how they were fighting back. She wanted to tell her how Umbridge hurt her every detention and get her to heal her hand. She took a deep breath and looked at her mother.

She'd never seen her look so tired before. "What is it Ginny? It looked like a cut. Did you hurt yourself?" Molly asked again. A lump rose in Ginny's throat at her mother's concern. Her mother had been through so much all year. She had been out on Order missions. She'd been trying to take care of all her children. Her husband had almost died and yet, here she was, enquiring about her daughter's silly aches and pains. She was probably worried sick about all the people she cared about and likely believed that the ones in school were safe. Ginny couldn't bring herself to take away that illusion.

"It's nothing, Mum. Just a scrape from school," Ginny muttered. "I'll – I'll set out the plates." She hurried off. She couldn't possibly show weakness now. It wasn't about her brothers any longer.

It was about being strong for Mum.

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><p>"And what is this we hear –"<p>

"About you-"

"And a certain Dean Thomas?"

Ginny glared at the twins as she folded laundry. "Sod off."

"That's rather rude for a young lady, isn't it Fred?" George grinned.

"Quite rude. But Ginny's not been a lady much, has she? No wonder she can't handle Thomas being polite," said Fred.

"He's not being polite, he's being a chauvinist. I don't need him helping me into the common room and pulling my chair out for me all the time. I'm not an old lady!" Ginny protested.

"You're no lady at all," Fred laughed.

"Alright you two, if you want to stay in here, help with the laundry."

The twins looked around to see their mother standing in the doorway, glaring at them. They shrugged and left quickly, muttering about other work.

"How was your term so far, Ginny?" Molly asked, picking up a pair of socks from the basket and folding them.

"You didn't have to drive them away. I can handle them," Ginny snapped. She couldn't let her Mum see that she was upset by the twins' words.

Molly gave her a fond look. "I know, I know. You're growing up so fast, Ginny. You never needed anyone to take care of you and help you out. You're not weak. You don't need your mother."

"Why do you keep treating me like a kid then?" Ginny said angrily. "No wonder those two keep making fun of me."

"You're my little girl, Ginny." Molly smiled sadly at her. "I wish you could stay that way."

"It couldn't hurt to be a bit more grown up like Parvati Patil or – or Cho Chang," Ginny muttered. She was torn between proving her brothers wrong about her womanliness and enduring their teasing if she did start acting more ladylike. It was silly and weak to be worried about something so trivial with a war going on but maybe - maybe Harry went for girls who were more feminine.

"Here," said Molly. She handed her a small cylinder wrapped in tissue. "Happy Christmas." She picked up the laundry basket and left with a smile.

Ginny unwrapped the present curiously. She grinned at the tube of lip gloss and the sparkly hair clip she found in it. Of course, it wouldn't be silly at all if it were a present from dear old Mum. She couldn't offend her by not using them after all.

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><p>Ginny tried to read her History of Magic notes. Her Mum had insisted that she continue with her school work despite the fact that they were hidden away at Auntie Muriel's.<p>

She was _so tired_. She was still sore from all the punishment she'd endured at school through term. She was worried sick about how Neville would manage – he'd be alone now - and where Luna was. She was scared that something would happen to someone she cared about. She hated the complete absence of news about Harry, Ron and Hermione. She didn't want to be grown up and strong anymore. She just wanted to be safe.

Her eyes fell on a notebook that was buried under scrolls of History of Magic notes. She opened it and smiled sadly at the sight of Harry's neat writing scrawled in margins. He'd tried to distract her when she was studying the previous year. He'd scribbled words as silly as "Trotting Trolls Can Twist Terry's Tongue" to as serious as "I'm the luckiest man on earth to have you."

Tears stung her eyes unexpectedly. She slammed the notebook shut. No, she couldn't be weak and cry. She had to stay strong. For Harry. For her parents. They shouldn't have to worry about her too. She couldn't cry.

"Ginny? Bill just stopped by - oh!" Molly stepped back onto the wide landing, taken by surprise as Ginny threw herself at her, weeping. She put her arms around Ginny, rubbing her back soothingly. "Ginny dear, what's wrong?"

"I can't do it anymore Mum! I give up. I can't be strong anymore. I want to just curl up next to you and cry. I'm scared, I'm worried and I just want to be your little girl again. I want to go home and everyone to come back safely. I can't pretend I'm fine anymore. I'm tired of waiting and not being able to help! I don't know how you do it, but I can't take it anymore," Ginny sobbed, hugging her mother tightly.

"Oh, Ginny! It's okay to have a little cry sometimes. You're just sixteen; it's fine to be scared," Molly whispered into her hair. "Bill just stopped by. Harry, Ron and Hermione just Apparated into Shell Cottage with Luna, Dean, Ollivander and a goblin. They're a little scratched up, but they're all okay. They're all alive and safe. Bill's letting the twins know right now. Everything will be fine," she assured.

"They're - they're safe? All of them?" Ginny asked.

"They're in one piece at any rate," Molly replied. "Oh Bill, are you leaving so soon?" she added, glancing over Ginny's shoulder at her oldest son and the twins who were just coming up the stairs.

The boys didn't reply. They took one look at Ginny and their mother and joined in the hug. Ginny smiled at her mother's surprised look and held on tighter. It was okay to give in to her insecurities and fears and want to feel safe in Mum's arms sometimes. It wasn't weak.

Because she'd never admit it, but Mum was the one she - all of them - drew their strength from after all.

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><p><strong>Please review :) I'd love to hear what you thought of this! A big thank you to Emily(DolbyDigital) for betaing this!<strong>

**This was for round 2 of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition and for Potions in Fanfiction School.**

**Prompts used for Quidditch League are:**

**Inspired by the lyrics:**

**"I give up, I give in**

**To the whole of your skin**

**(I give up, I give in Am I doing this again?)"**

**- This Heart, Mary Lambert**

**Optional Prompts used:**

**Weakness**

**Pretence**

**Notebook**


	16. Worth It?

**Thank you for all your reviews/favourites/alerts!**

**I hope you like this one too :) Do let me know what you thought at the end!**

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><p>Fred looked out the window at the deserted, snow-covered square opposite Grimmauld Place. Bill was supposed to Apparate back any moment with an update about their father. He smiled slightly – a little stiffly even; he hadn't had much reason for it in the last few days – as he remembered the porch of the Burrow. There was a scorch mark in the corner from the time he and George had been experimenting with a prototype of their fireworks. They'd blamed the gnomes when their mother had asked them about it.<p>

He didn't like winter much. It was too cold and Fred loved the warmth. He loved seeing people smile and wander around chattering with each other. Winter was too depressing and chilly. People were always in a rush to get home and no one had much fun. It was one of the reasons he and George were working on a specific box of tricks meant for the dull winter months. He would be mentioning this to the investor he was about to meet.

He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it, squinting to read it in the dim light. "_Making people smile makes us happy. That's our main motivation," _he read. He skimmed through the rest of the speech they had prepared. He wished George could have come too but they'd agreed that one of them needed to stay home in case – in case something bad happened. They couldn't tell anyone else where they were going so one of them would have to contact the other if there was an emergency.

He hoped his father would be okay. His parents meant the world to him - almost as much as George - and it would kill him if something happened to either of them. For the first time, he understood the magnitude of the danger they'd gotten themselves into. He couldn't understand why on earth Percy would want to leave their family, but he _did_ understand Percy's ideas of wanting to help the family with a bit of extra money. He wished his mum would come home, he hadn't talked to her for more than a few minutes in the last few days. Each time he'd caught a glimpse of her, he'd noticed how sad and tired she looked. He wished he could make her happy somehow too.

A man appeared on the doorstep below him suddenly. Fred hurried downstairs, recognising his brother. Bill was standing in the hall, dusting the snow off his shoulders when Fred reached him. "How's Dad?" he asked immediately.

"The same," Bill answered. "He's sleeping soundly enough and the Healers didn't find anything wrong in the tests today."

"Apart from the wound that won't heal and might bleed out, you mean?"

"They say they're close to finding a cure. They think they should be able to find one by Christmas." Bill looked up at Fred and whistled softly, a slow grin spreading across his face. "Who's the lucky lady? I haven't seen you this dapper since that Christmas when you were six and Auntie Muriel insisted we all wear suits."

"It's not for Auntie Muriel this time, that's for sure," Fred said quickly.

"Well who is she then?" Bill persisted.

"Just a girl I met in Diagon Alley over the summer and promised I'd look up when I came home for the holidays," Fred replied, shrugging casually. He wasn't entirely lying. He _had_ met their investor, Mrs Moore, over the summer.

"Go on then, have fun," Bill said. "I'll expect a full report when you get back," he added with a wink, heading upstairs. "Oh and if Mum's back when you get home, don't annoy her. She's tired."

Fred nodded as he made for the front door. He wished Bill hadn't reminded him of their mum. He knew she would be pretty annoyed if she found out what he was up to.

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><p>Fred shut the door of Grimmauld Place quietly as he traipsed into the dark, dank house. It was only around ten and the meeting couldn't have gone better. Mrs Moore had been impressed and she'd agreed to help them, especially because he'd mentioned that line about making people happy being their motivation. He was just about to go up and tell George the good news when he heard a loud crash from downstairs. He raced down the steps and into the kitchen.<p>

"Mum? Are you alright?" He rushed to help his mother who sat dazedly amidst a mess of fallen pots and pans.

She took his hand gratefully and got to her feet. "I'm fine, dear, thank you. I tried to reach the saucepan but it was too high up and I ended up pulling all the other pans stacked around it down too." She surveyed the mess and sighed, picking up the vessels. "I suppose I made a terrific noise."

Fred helped her, grabbing a couple of gravy boats and setting them on the long table. "I thought you might have begun experimenting with the leftovers again," he grinned.

Molly threw her hands up in exasperation but she was smiling too. "You'll never let me forget that night, will you?"

"You blew up the house, Mum. There was an actual hole in the wall. And you scold us about the minor bangs you hear from our room." Fred smiled in satisfaction at the amusement on his mum's face. It felt like years since she'd smiled in that warm yet mischievous way.

"It was a small hole!" she protested. "I scold you two because you willingly put yourselves in danger with your crazy inventions. And for what, a bag of tricks?"

Fred didn't reply. He couldn't tell her that he'd been out to find someone to fund their "bag of tricks". Guilt settled at the bottom of his stomach. He and George kept their inventions from their mother because they knew she wouldn't like it if she knew exactly what they'd planned for a career or that they were working towards fulfilling their dreams. She meant well, he knew that. Though they complained about her being a pain and breathing down their necks; though they'd been furious about her confiscating all their tricks the previous summer, they both loved their mother very much. They didn't want to disappoint her.

"Speaking of tricks, where _is_ your other half?" Molly asked.

"Upstairs, I guess. Didn't you see him at dinner?"

"I only got home just now. Remus sent me to get a bite and some sleep."

Fred looked at his mother and it tugged at his heart to see the worry and sadness and tiredness on her face. He led her over to the table. "Fear not, mother dear, Captain Fred is here!" he announced. He perched a saucepan over his head like a helmet. "Sit down; I'll get you something to eat."

"The only thing you can cook is a cheese sandwich," Molly said, amused.

"Prepare to have the best cheese sandwiches you've ever tasted then," Fred grinned.

Molly smiled, feeling some of her tiredness melt away as she relaxed in her seat. There was something about the twins that just brought joy to everyone around them. "I haven't seen you as Captain Fred since that afternoon when you and George decided to be pirates."

"I remember that." He grinned. "I also recall you having to untie Ron from the tree we'd left him at."

"Oh you bothered him a lot when you were younger." Her lips stretched into an almost identically sneaky grin. "When I was about your age, your Uncles Fabian and Gideon and I would do the same to our cousin Charlotte. She was this sweet, innocent girl a couple of years younger than my brothers. Oh the trouble we used to get into."

"We had to get it from somewhere," Fred conceded. "A penchant for mischief is something we had to have inherited."

"Don't blame me for all the detentions you get! You look sharp. Where had you been?" Molly asked, noticing his attire suddenly.

"On a date of sorts," Fred answered vaguely, waving his hand.

"You dressed up for a girl? Who was she?" Molly asked, surprised.

"Just someone I met last summer and said I'd meet when I was in London again. She thought I looked ridiculous."

"Did she say you looked ridiculous or that you _were_ ridiculous?"

"A bit of both," Fred grinned. He winked at her. "I think she was quite impressed."

"Don't go wandering about too much though, Freddie. It's not safe," Molly said.

"Don't worry, Mum." He brought over a plate of sandwiches. "I'll be careful. I didn't go far either." He flicked his wand and a few candles dimmed. "There, now it's just like the fancy restaurant we went to."

Molly froze with a sandwich halfway to her mouth. "Fancy restaurant? Who _is_ this girl? When will I meet her?"

"Mum!" Fred protested. "You promised you wouldn't pry about my dates after what happened with Patricia Simpson!"

"Ah come on dear, you didn't even tell me how it went with Angelina Johnson last year," Molly teased. "Your ears used to turn red just at the mention of her and you used to get this glazed look immediately."

He shoved her arm. "Fine we went down to a place near Holloway Road, happy?"

Molly's smile faded. "That's close to where Percy lives now."

Fred sighed. "Mum, don't think about that prat right now. He's made it clear he wants nothing to do with this family. Let's – let's talk about the four straight E's George and I got on our Charms homework last week."

Molly looked at him. "You two got four E's on your homework?"

Fred nodded. "We thought we'd make an effort and give you the papers as a Christmas present."

"But Fred, that's wonderful! You see? I always told you a little hard work was all you two needed to get good grades. You've got brains, and see what you can do when you apply them? That's great news. You can get a good job in the Ministry maybe, if you keep it up." She stood up but before she could clear away the plates, Fred took them.

"I'll clean up, Mum. You go get some sleep," he said.

Molly looked at him gratefully. "You know, I used to worry the most about you two, but it looks like you'll do just fine. Are you sure you can clean up properly?"

"Of course." He pulled his wand out to clear the table. "You don't want to know about all the messes we've cleaned up in our room before you saw them," he added with a smirk.

She shook her head. "I'm glad you've finally started to take an interest in your studies and stopped fooling around. I know you don't like that I discourage you from opening a joke shop but I only do it because I'm worried about you and I want you to do well." She smiled at him. "Thank you for telling me about your homework, it made me happy tonight. Good night, Freddie."

"Good night Mum," Fred managed to choke out past the lump in his throat. He slumped into a chair when the sound of his mother's footsteps had faded away. He was beginning to wonder if opening a joke shop was such a good idea after all. Sure, it had always been their dream to make people laugh and entertain them.

But was it worth making a hundred other people happy if it made his mother sad?

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><p><strong>Please do review :)<strong>

**This was for round 5 of the Quidditch League competition. The prompts I used were "winter", "ridiculous" and "candles"**

**I hope this made sense and flowed well and wasn't too random. It was a bit rushed since I was pressed for time.**

**Do review! I'd love some feedback.**


	17. In The Stars

**Thank you to anyone who reviewed the last chapter or added it to your favourites or alerts list!**

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><p><em>Andromeda. Cassiopeia. Scorpius. Aquarius. Sirius. And there in the corner, his namesake, Orion.<em>

_And Regulus._

Orion gazed out of his window, silently naming all the stars and constellations he could see. It had been something Regulus had loved doing with him. Sirius had never had enough patience to sit still and watch the sky but Regulus...he had loved learning.

And Orion couldn't teach him anything anymore. His son – his little boy – was dead.

It had been a dreadful night. Kreacher had stumbled into their room with news of what Regulus had set out to do. Orion had commanded Kreacher to take him to the spot but the house elf had only been able to take him to a cliff overlooking the sea. He hadn't been able to show him exactly where Regulus had gone. When Regulus hadn't returned after an hour, Orion knew. There was a feeling in his bones that told him that his son was dead.

_Andromeda. Aquarius. Sirius. Regulus._

"_I trusted you! You said you'd take care of him! You said you wouldn't let him come to any harm!" Sirius yelled, his face more livid than even his mother's on the night that he had left._

"_I tried," Orion protested. "I promise you, I tried everything I could."_

"_No you didn't. You sat by and watched while Regulus was forced to do horrible things. You just sat by and let him walk to his own death. You're useless. You're a waste of a father!"_

Orion's eyes flew open and he looked around wildly. He relaxed and blinked slowly, trying to rid his brain of the image of Sirius' face. He had no idea how Sirius would react to the news but he expected him to come hammering at the door, demanding to know how Orion could have let such a thing happen.

He looked back out the window. It was burning brightly that night, Sirius. And just beside it, Regulus seemed to be burning extra bright as well.

_Andromeda. Scorpius. Regulus._

"_Father, help me!"_

_Orion was standing on an island in the middle of the lake. This was the cursed place Kreacher had described. An eerie green light filled the cavern._

"_Father!"_

_Orion spun around, searching for his son. "Regulus? Where are you?" he called out._

"_Father, help me! I'm drowning!"_

_Orion scrambled to the edge of the rock. There was Regulus being pulled down by an army of Inferi. "No!" he yelled. He threw himself flat against the rock and stretched out his hand. "Regulus! Take my hand!"_

"_Father!" Regulus was being pulled farther away from him. Orion stretched his hand out as far as he could but he didn't dare move any closer to the water._

"_Move a bit closer, Father," Regulus begged. "I can't reach your hand."_

_Orion strained forward but he didn't move an inch. "Regulus, take my hand," he shouted. But it was too late. Regulus was pulled under. "NO!" Orion cried._

_Suddenly, the water around the island bubbled and Regulus floated out of it slowly. "You coward. You didn't dare to move just a bit further, not even to help your own son." His voice was hollow and sad. His features morphed until Orion gazed in fear at Sirius' contemptuous face. "I thought you'd save at least your favourite. But you always were too busy worrying about your own skin. You're a failure. You don't deserve to be called a father." He spat the last word with as much derision as possible. "You will pay for your cowardice."_

_Orion cried out in horror as all the water rose up and crashed down on him. He couldn't breathe. The hollow, unseeing eyes of the Inferi burned into his. Sirius' words rang in his ears._

Orion fell out of the chair he'd been dozing in. He looked around, the darkness and the dim green lights of his room convincing his dazed, half-asleep brain that he was still in the cavern. He looked at the window and nearly had a heart attack upon seeing a gaunt face there before he realised that he had only caught sight of his own reflection. His breathing slowed as he regained his bearings.

He had spent all night in the same way. He didn't want to sleep. Every time he nodded off, nightmares would besiege him. The worst one so far had been the dream where a corpse of Regulus had chased him around his house, ragged and bloodied.

Blood. That was what had caused this whole tragedy in the first place. Why had he been so blind? Why hadn't he discouraged Regulus from getting so carried away in this pureblood mania? Why had he encouraged him to hate all those of lower birth so much so that he had decided to join the Dark Lord? Why had he praised him when he'd joined those despicable Death Eaters? Regulus had barely been of age! He was supposed to be Regulus' father! He was supposed to keep his son safe!

_You don't deserve to be called a father._

Sirius had been right, even if it had only been a dream. In fact, Orion had no doubt that Sirius would have done everything, even given up his own life, to save Regulus. He had loved his little brother. But Orion had loved Regulus too. Was he really that much of a coward? He could have looked into the house elf's memories and found out exactly where this cave was. But he'd been afraid of what lay within. He could have forced his son to stay away from the Dark Arts. But then the matter would have become public and he would have had to give up his riches and possibly even go to Azkaban. He had been afraid of his pureblood peers and incurring the Dark Lord's wrath. He was a coward; nothing more than a horrible, weak, despicable coward. No wonder Sirius looked at him with such contempt.

What was the point of all that blood purity business if it meant the blood of those closest to him would be spilt? What did he care about the lives of a hundred Muggleborns now that his own son was dead? He should have told Regulus to run away too, just like Andromeda and Cedrella and Sirius...

_Regulus._

"_Father, why should the Muggleborns be oppressed?"_

_Orion and Regulus were sitting in the hall. Sirius had just been sent up to his room for daring to talk about some common Mudblood girl he'd met at school so the two of them were alone._

"_They've stolen magic, son. They shouldn't be able to do magic. How can a childid of a long line of common Muggles suddenly have such abilities unless they took it from someone else? They need to be pushed back to the filth they come from and the noble wizard that they stole their magic from must be avenged," Orion replied._

"_But surely, there's no need to kill them?" Regulus' forehead furrowed in confusion._

_Orion looked at him seriously. "Regulus, imagine if some Mudblood came to our house tomorrow and stole my magic. Would you like it? Would you not do everything you could to get it back? Whatever it took, would you not do it?"_

"_I...I suppose I would. But they're going to have families too. We don't have to _kill them." Regulus looked down, still repulsed by the idea of such brutality.

"_No family is more important than your own," Orion taught him._

_Regulus raised his head and Orion gasped, backing away. His eyes were red, the pupils mere slits. His skin was pale and waxy and his nose was flat, like that of a snake. When he spoke, it wasn't the voice of a child. It was _his _voice. "Why Orion," he said, smirking maliciously. "You shouldn't teach your children values you don't believe in. Coward, you wouldn't do anything for your kin. You only care about yourself."_

Orion sat up suddenly, his eyes burning. He looked at the stars one more time. His son – his poor little Regulus – had been murdered by a madman!

_No family is more important than your own._

Orion stood, clutching his wand. He began casting every single protective spell and enchantment he could think of. He ordered Kreacher to bring every book from their library that had a safeguarding spell and cast those too. He knew his energy would be spent. He was overstraining himself and he would be extremely weak when he was done but he went on. He flourished his wand, muttering incantations over and over.

The sky had begun to lighten by the time he was done. Orion collapsed to his knees, completely spent. His magic had drawn on his own life-force and he could barely breathe. He knew he was about to die; he had exceeded his body's capabilities. But he didn't care. His family was safe now. There was no way that the Dark Lord or any of his followers could find or hurt anyone else he cared about. Walburga would be safe. His family _was_ more important than the ideals of a lunatic.

It was still just dark enough to see the stars twinkling at him. His eyes were closing; his breathing was slowing down.

_Andromeda. Cassiopeia. _

He would join his son soon. He would join him in the stars.

_Aquarius. Scorpius. Sirius._

Never again would Sirius torment his dreams with accusations of cowardice.

_And Regulus. His dear, dear Regulus._

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><p><strong>Please, please do review this :) I would love to hear your feedback!<strong>

**In case it was confusing, the italics bits were all dreams that Orion was having. This is set just the night after Regulus dies.**

**This was written on behalf of the Captain for round 8 of the Quidditch League Competition.**


	18. Still Want You Around

**It's been AGES since I've written fluff of any sort! I hope this is okay!**

**Please do review :)**

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><p>"You know, the party just isn't the same without the most beautiful woman in the house out there." Hermione jumped and dropped the plate she was holding only to have a long arm catch it before it hit the ground. She turned around to find her son grinning at her. "You had a rule about whoever broke anything having to skip dessert when we were kids, remember?" Hugo asked. "It would be a shame if you'd had to miss that spectacular cake now."<p>

Hermione smiled slightly. "If I'd dropped the plate, it would've been your fault for startling me so _you'd_ be the one to skip dessert."

Hugo gave her an indignant look. "Why didn't you tell me that was allowed when we were little? I broke that china cat on the mantelpiece only because Fred and James crept up behind me and yelled 'Boo' in my ear."

She smiled wider and leaned against the kitchen counter. "You'd have known how to find loopholes in my rules if you'd inherited my brains," she said cheekily, fully aware that Hugo had got an Outstanding on each of his eleven OWLs the previous year.

Hugo pouted and leaned against the counter too, tossing the plate up and catching it. "I get all the lousy genes," he grumbled. "I got Dad's _bright_ red hair, your boring brown eyes, his freckles and your tiny nose –"

"Hey, I'll have you know your father adores my nose!"

"Of course he does, he's in love with you." Hugo rolled his eyes and continued. "What else? Oh yeah, I got your unsteadiness on a broom and Dad's clumsiness on the ground. Rosie picked up all the good traits first," he complained.

"You've got your Dad's Keeper skills though," Hermione noted, watching him throw and catch the dish unerringly.

"Fat lot of good it does when I can't stay on a broom long enough for the Quaffle to come down my end. Oh and I've got your inability to handle large crowds for too long as well." He nodded at the group gathered in their living room. "I had to take a break from that lot."

"You've always been a bit timid, Hugo," Hermione said absently, gazing fondly at the gaggle of redheads – with the occasional blonde or black manes – that was milling about in the adjoining room. She watched Louis trying to balance a plate of fruitcakes on Roxanne's head. Fred and Dominique were in the corner, no doubt plotting the "Christmas entertainment" as they put it. The adults were no better. Charlie was regaling Molly and Lucy with tales of his dragon encounters, each one more fictitious than the last. No one could guess that most of them were of age or older now, the way they were all behaving. Her eyes found Rose in the middle of the crowd. She was arguing with James vehemently, her voice louder than the general noise.

"-just because my birthday's on Christmas doesn't mean you can get away with buying me just one gift!" Rose scolded.

"I spent three hours in Twilfit and Tatting's _and_ a good chunk of my salary on those shoes!" James protested.

Hermione smiled affectionately at her daughter's animated face and mischievous grin. She looked so pretty and grown up in her brown birthday dress. Hermione remembered the first time she'd taken Rose to Madam Malkin's and helped her pick out her first dress. She'd been only five then, and far more interested in going to the sweetshop or Quality Quidditch Supplies down the road back then. It seemed like only a couple of years ago that Rose was begging her to read a bedtime story; just a few months ago that she had been climbing into her lap and asking if she could help knit jumpers; mere weeks previously that she and Hugo had made a mess of the kitchen while helping her bake a cake for Ron's birthday and surely it had only been a few days since she'd waved both of them off to Hogwarts? Rose couldn't possibly be back from six months of Auror training already and celebrating her nineteenth birthday so soon.

"She's not going to stop growing up Mum."

Hermione was shaken out of her thoughts. She looked at Hugo who was smiling kindly at her. "How did you know what I was thinking about?" She wasn't that surprised though. Hugo had always been closer to her than Rose was. He was more like her, more silent, observant and tactful than his sister who took after Ron in her lively, independent ways. She remembered all the afternoons she'd spent with Hugo, curled up on their sofa and reading together or excitedly discussing the latest book they'd read while Rose and Ron played chess or Quidditch.

"You've got the same expression you had on the day Rose left for Auror training," he replied. "And on her seventeenth birthday and the day I went to Hogwarts _and _the –"

"Alright, alright," Hermione grumbled. "I don't like watching either of you grow up." She looked at Rose again. "It seems like just yesterday you were both hiding behind my legs when I took you to Diagon Alley for the first time and now look at you. Rose is going to be off on all sorts of assignments and you're going into NEWT year. There was a time when you both needed me to tie your shoelaces and now you're going to leave home and be on your own. Rose didn't need me to pick that dress for her; you didn't need me to get the biscuit tin down from the top shelf…I'm just…well you're both not going to need me around much longer I suppose." She gave a small sniff and dabbed at her eyes furiously. She wasn't going to cry. She should be happy that she'd raised two such good, strong, independent children! But she was unhappy that they weren't going to be her little Hugo and Rose anymore!

Hugo put his arm around her. "Mum, just because we don't need you to do the little things for us, it doesn't mean we don't need you around at all. We're still going to come crying to you when someone hurts us. We'll never be too old to curl up beside you on the sofa or to put the angel on the tree with you at Christmas. We're going to miss your hugs. We're still going to come to you for relationship advice – remember how well the last time I went to Dad about that turned out?"

Hermione gave a watery chuckle at a memory of Hugo with a plate of spaghetti on his head that quickly flashed through her mind.

He grinned suddenly and pulled a small package out of his pocket along with a length of ribbon. "As for shoelaces, I still do need help with tying a bow." He gave her a pleading look and held up the ribbon.

Hermione laughed. "How do you put your trainers on every morning?" Her fingers deftly tied a neat little bow on the box.

"Oh I've been slipping them on without undoing the laces for years," Hugo grinned. He smiled affectionately at her. "The thing is, whether we need you or not, we'll definitely always _want_ you around. We love you."

She put her arm around him too. "Thanks Hugo," she said softly.

"There you are!" Rose burst into the room and grabbed both their hands. "Come on, it's time to cut the cake!"

"I'm sorry it isn't shaped like your old teddy bear, Rosie. It's just a regular grown-up cake," Hugo teased.

Rose scowled at him. "Make him stop Mum! He can't make fun of me on my birthday."

Hermione laughed at them both. "Some things just won't change will they?" she said.

Rose and Hugo shook their heads, grinning. They suddenly moved forward and pulled their mother into a big hug. "We love you, Mum," Hugo murmured. "Thanks for the party Mum. I'm going to miss you so much," Rose whispered, burying her head in Hermione's neck.

Hermione hugged them both back equally fiercely. "I love you both too." Her children might not need her so much anymore but they loved her and certainly did want her around.

She'd always be their mother after all.

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><p><strong>Please, please leave me a review and let me know what you thought!<strong>

**I hope this turned out okay and everyone was in character and nothing was confusing. In my head canon, Rose is born on 25th December, 2005 so she's two years and a bit older than Hugo who's born on 11th March, 2006. Hugo has always been more like Hermione in my opinion - a lot less outgoing and indoor-ish and sensitive to other people's feelings than Rose who's more like Ron. I hope the ending wasn't too abrupt either.**

**This was for Ashleigh's Monthly Competitions - October**


	19. Believe

**A little Padma-Parvati moment :)**

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><p>"You know you shouldn't be in here."<p>

Parvati whipped her wand out and turned around, relaxing when she saw Padma. Padma sighed and walked forward. She placed her hand on her twin's, lowering her wand. "It's kind of sad that we're so jumpy these days. I expect you'd have hexed me if my voice hadn't been familiar."

"You shouldn't have snuck up on me then," Parvati said shortly, her nerves still on edge. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Looking for you." Padma ignored the sharpness of Parvati's tone. She looked around at the red and gold hangings and the comfortable squashy armchairs. "You've got a nice common room."

"How'd you know I'd be in here?"

"I'd have been in the Ravenclaw common room when I needed to think about things."

Parvati sank into an armchair, her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Sometimes, I forget how alike we are."

Padma smiled. "Even though you look into the mirror every morning and see me looking back at you?" She settled on the arm of Parvati's chair.

"I've got more scars than you."

"Always a competition with you, isn't it?"

"Why d'you think I ended up in Gryffindor?"

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Padma wondered whether the Sorting Hat would put her in Gryffindor if she tried it on now. She'd been a rebel, painted graffiti on the walls with the DA, resisted the Carrows all year and now she was hiding out in the Room of Requirement with a bunch of other teenagers. She had never thought of herself as particularly brave when they'd been younger. She'd been quiet and bookish unlike Parvati who had been outgoing and daring. But now, Padma reflected, the war which had changed all of them in so many ways, seemed to have made her and Parvati more alike than before. She was braver and bolder. Parvati had become more careful, thinking about her moves before she made them.

Most people were quick to pick out the differences between the twins all the time but only they themselves knew exactly how similar they were. They had always been close and the past two years had brought them even closer. Padma couldn't imagine life without her twin any longer. After the events of the last summer, for all she knew, Parvati was the only family she had left.

"Neville received a letter from his Gran in the evening. She told him she was proud of him and she was safe," Parvati said finally. She looked up at Padma, fear evident in her eyes – fear that was mirrored in Padma's identical eyes. "It made me wonder how Mum and Dad are doing."

Padma put her arm around her twin. "I wonder that every day too." She hated thinking about the previous summer and how it had torn their family apart. Their parents had been against the girls returning in sixth year itself. It had taken a lot of work to convince them that Hogwarts was safe. When Dumbledore had died though, their parents had immediately taken them back home and that summer, they had proposed that they return to India until the war was over. Parvati and Padma had flatly refused. They had barely spoken to their parents all summer – except when they argued heatedly - and had ended up sneaking out of the house on September 1st to go back to school. Letters had been restricted and they knew their parents couldn't possibly try to take them out of Hogwarts now with the compulsory attendance rule. They hadn't spoken since the summer. They didn't even know if their parents were still alive.

"It's just…I've been feeling like this whole war, this whole resistance we've been putting up, is just pointless. What chance do a group of rebels have against the most powerful wizard in the world? We can't even do anything to really _stop_ the Carrows. Are we going to spend the rest of our lives trying to slow them down? What if we're all going to die in the end anyway and everything we're doing now ends up being useless?" Parvati said. She blinked furiously, fighting back tears. "What if we never see Mum and Dad again?"

"It's not a waste," Padma said. "It's giving people hope. Look, remember when we were just talking about doing things and no one wanted to join us earlier in the year? But then when we started actually taking a stand, even if it was something as silly as sticking our tongues out at the Carrows when their backs were turned, it lifted everyone's spirits a bit. Parvati, we're the ones who are giving hope to the rest of the kids in the castle. We can't lose hope ourselves."

"But we don't stand a chance against You-Know-Who! The only reason all of us are still alive is because he hasn't bothered to come down here and take care of us all personally because he's too busy finding a way to kill Harry. If Harry dies, then we're all next in line. And Harry isn't invincible."

"He's faced You-Know-Who and lived five times already. You've got to believe in him. You've got to believe in _something_ that gives you hope." She looked at Parvati sincerely. "You know what I believe in that gets me through every day and gives me hope that we'll bring the Dark side down? I believe that you'll always be there to protect me. I remember that day back when we were about eight years old and we met Pansy Parkinson. She said something mean about my dress and my hair and you told her to shut it. You inspired me to stand up for myself and for the people I love. That's what we're doing for everyone else now. People are always going to be scared of standing up to bullies. But when they see other people doing it and they see the bullies getting weaker because of that, they get the strength to stand up to them too."

"I'm scared, Padma," admitted Parvati. "I can't think why the Sorting Hat put me in Gryffindor right now. It just seems easier to give up. I mean, what are we even fighting for? We're purebloods, we're not really in so much danger. We could just give up."

Padma slid down and squeezed into the armchair with her sister. They hugged each other tightly. "I'm scared too," she said softly. "But we have to believe we'll be okay. We can't lose hope. Besides, remember what Dad used to say? The best things in life are the ones that don't come to us unless we work hard for them. We're not fighting for ourselves. We've got each other and friends and family out there that are in danger. We have to fight for _their_ safety. And – and if we win, we'll get a chance to go and tell Mum how sorry we are for being so horrible to her all summer and for running away to Hogwarts. That's worth fighting for, isn't it? That's worth sticking to this resistance movement for."

Parvati was silent for a few moments, thinking about her sister's words. Suddenly, she extracted herself from the chair, pulling Padma up too. She wiped her tears away furiously. "You're right. You're absolutely right." Her eyes shone with new resolve.

"Why d'you think I ended up in Ravenclaw?"

Parvati smiled. "We can do this. We're going to do this together."

"For our friends," Padma agreed.

"And for us," said Parvati.

"And for Mum and Dad."

Parvati nodded. She was still scared. She was still worried they wouldn't make it. But she wasn't going to lose hope. She was going to believe.

It was the only way they'd get to see their parents again.

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><p><strong>Please do review :) I'd love to hear what you thought of this!<strong>

**This was for round 11 of the Quidditch League competition. The prompts used were : "change", "You know you shouldn't be in here", "This is not a test - the coronas"**


	20. Welcome To The Family

"Not thinking of running away now, are we?"

Harry turned around and raised an eyebrow warily at the sight of Bill and Charlie walking up to him, deceptively friendly expressions on their faces.

"You think Ginny wouldn't track me down and kill me if I did?" he asked.

"So you _are _considering it though?" Charlie asked immediately.

Harry gave him a look. "Don't you think it's a little late for the older brother speech? We _are_ getting married tomorrow."

"Oh no, this isn't the older brother speech." Bill put his arm around Harry's shoulders.

"No, it's much more than that. You see, Harry, tomorrow you're going to become a Weasley," Charlie said solemnly.

"Actually, I think Ginny's about to become a Potter."

"But the thing is, you need to prove you have what it takes," Bill said, ignoring him.

"And I have to do this at –" Harry checked his watch " – eleven in the night on the eve of my wedding?"

"No time like the present right?" Charlie said cheerfully.

"Where's the rest of you lot? I'd think they wouldn't pass up an opportunity to take the mickey out of me too," Harry said resignedly.

"Oh they don't know about this. This is serious business." Charlie suppressed a grin.

Harry sighed. "Fine. What do I have to do?"

"You're going to have a number of tasks, of course," Bill said, grinning. "First thing you have to do is to go down to the kitchen and sneak a couple of bottles from Dad's secret stash of Firewhiskey. He keeps it at the back of the pantry, on the topmost shelf. Mum doesn't use that bit of the pantry, it's mostly just for storing old pans and pots."

"You'll prove that you can be stealthy as a Weasley. It's a very important skill, you know. You've got to know how to get things done quietly when there's a house full of people," Charlie added.

Harry squared his shoulders. Truth be told, he was feeling a bit nervous about the wedding to be able to sleep so maybe this would take his mind off things. They arranged to meet on the roof of the Burrow as opposed to the porch on which they were currently standing. Charlie said something about skills of sneaking through the house undetected.

Harry walked back into the house and noticed the kitchen light was still on – Mrs Weasley was still in there making sure everything was in place for the big day, no doubt. Silently cursing himself for having left his Invisibility Cloak in his room, he darted out to the back door which led into the kitchen. Mrs Weasley was by the stove, counting loaves of bread. Harry quietly padded up to one of the living room windows and pulled out his wand. He gave it a quick wave and a gust of wind blew into the room, toppling a neatly stacked tower of parchment.

Mrs Weasley looked into the living room and squealed when she saw the parchment fall. Numerous lists of seating arrangements, gifts and other wedding related necessities that had been neatly arranged by Hermione scattered all over the floor. "Oh how many times have I told them not to leave the windows open at night!" Mrs Weasley grumbled as she hurried into the room.

Harry immediately darted around to the back door and let himself into the kitchen. He dived into the pantry which had been declared off-limits to everyone earlier that evening owing to the fact that the wedding cake and numerous other goodies were being stored there. Mrs Weasley had made it very clear that even a single piece of food going missing would invite dire consequences. He quickly moved to the back of the pantry and groped around in the dark for something that felt like a bottle.

He had just put his foot on one of the lower shelves and pulled himself up to reach the higher ones when a slight squeaking sound from behind him caught his attention. He turned around and squinted in the gloom. His eyes widened when he saw the tell-tale red light from a Weasley product blinking at him – Shoot-up Springs.

He desperately groped around until his hand connected with the smooth surface of a bottle and a series of clinking sounds told him there were at least four. He grabbed two and quickly uncorked one to confirm that it was Firewhiskey.

The first Shoot-up Spring exploded with a loud squeak, knocking over the pan it had been placed under. Harry cursed; he should have expected booby traps! He ran to the pantry door. Mrs Weasley's quick footsteps were getting louder. He darted out the door and was out of the kitchen not a moment too soon. At least three other Springs came to life in the pantry and the clanging of falling pots and pans was loud enough to be heard on the roof – where Bill and Charlie were probably having a good laugh, he suspected.

He sneaked back into the living room through the window and was almost at the door to the stairs when Mr Weasley came in. Harry dived under a table, pulling the tablecloth down to cover him and stuffing the bottles under his jacket.

"Molly, what on earth is that racket?" he heard Mr Weasley ask as he rushed to the kitchen.

"It's those infernal Springs! It's like they're all teenagers again when they all get together like this," Mrs Weasley snapped. "Really, you wouldn't believe some of them are married!"

Harry peeked around his tablecloth. Mr and Mrs Weasley were both in the kitchen, their backs to him. The door wasn't that far, he just needed to –

"'Arry?" Fleur's face came into view as she peeked under the table. "What are you doing under zere?" she asked doubtfully.

He pulled his limbs closer to his body to hide the bulge of the bottles under his jacket. "Er – I was just – um – looking for something."

"Shall I 'elp?"

"No, that's alright. I don't think it's under here at all."

"Okay." Fleur held the tablecloth up expectantly, waiting for him to crawl out. She raised a puzzled eyebrow when he didn't move. "Er, 'ave you thought about looking somewhere else?"

"Yeah. Yeah I know where to look."

"Are you going to go zere?"

"I just want to sit here for a couple of minutes. It's - er – very calm here, don't you think?"

Fleur glanced at the kitchen from where Mrs Weasley's voice was heard – _loud_ and clear. Her expression suddenly cleared.

"If you're nervous, don't be. Eet will be okay. When you see Ginny walking down ze aisle tomorrow, you will know everything will be fine," she said, giving him what was obviously a kind, sympathetic and understanding smile.

He took the opportunity and smiled widely back at her. "Thanks for understanding, Fleur. Could you, erm, not mention this to anyone?"

"Certainment! Perhaps you should talk to Bill. He told me he had terrible nerves before our wedding."

Harry nodded. "I'll do that in just a moment."

Fleur smiled at him again and dropped the tablecloth, walking towards the kitchen.

Harry grimaced. "I'll find Bill all right," he muttered mutinously, crawling out from under the table. He walked up to the roof without running into anyone else only to find Bill and Charlie on the floor clutching each other for support as they laughed hard. He set the bottles down sharply in front of them. "Here," he grumbled. "I hope you had fun."

The brothers looked at his disgruntled expression and burst into laughter again. "Who asked you to hide under the table?" Charlie managed to choke out between laughs.

"I thought we weren't having a bachelor party?"

All of them looked up at the new voice. Ron, Percy and George were looking down at them; George's eyebrow was raised and he was smirking.

"This isn't exactly a bachelor party," Charlie said.

"There's booze and a visibly embarrassed Harry. How is this _not_ a bachelor party? The only thing missing is the loud music and the overcrowded pub," George pointed out.

"No, no. This is more of an induction party," Bill explained. He grinned at Harry. "He did a fair job of getting the Firewhiskey though. I think he'll do just fine in this family."

Ron snorted. "We were at the living room door watching him almost get caught by Fleur. The noise in the kitchen was disgraceful."

"You all saw that?" Harry asked, horrified.

George grinned and sat down beside him. "Of course, mate! Ron had to think of some embarrassing moments for his best man speech right?"

"I was going for the time you asked Cho Chang out to the Yule Ball but this was better," Ron added.

"You could throw in that day after his graduation from Auror Training where he came down to breakfast without trousers and butterfly patterned boxers," Percy smirked.

"Nah, then Ron would have to mention that _he_ came down and walked straight into the wall. Twice," George reminded him.

"Oi, in my defence, I had a swollen eye from my final exam," Ron objected.

Bill snorted. "You were so hammered you couldn't remember if your name was Ron Weasley or Roonil Wazlib."

"No I wasn't! I was a lot more sober than the rest of them. I Apparated everyone home, remember Harry?"

"We landed up in the middle of the Thames, that cemetery down at the village where we scared the wits out of that poor old lady and _upside down_ in the tree by the pond down the road before you managed to get us into the house!" Harry laughed. "I distinctly remember having to knock you out and Apparate us both from the tree."

"No you didn't! You'd passed out ages ago. You must have been dreaming." Ron's broad grin and the howls of laughter from the other boys considerably weakened his argument.

"Ron, you sure _you_ weren't dreaming and trying to Apparate in your sleep?" Percy grinned.

"Ah come on Harry, tell them I got us back safely. Harry? Why are you looking like that?" Ron stared curiously at the odd expression that had suddenly appeared on Harry's face.

"Huh?" Harry seemed to snap out of whatever he was thinking. "Nothing, I – never mind – it's nothing."

"You can't keep secrets from us anymore, kid," Charlie said. "What is it?"

Harry looked away. "Nothing – it's just – I remembered telling Ron I wished I had three older brothers the very first time I met him. I just didn't think it would really ever happen." He looked each of them in the eye.

"Ah Harry, don't go all emotional on us just yet, mate," George said. But he looked at Harry kindly. "Trust me; having older brothers is a pain." He ignored the indignant exclamations from Bill, Charlie and Percy.

Harry laughed as he watched them start squabbling again. He had meant what he'd said though. He'd never expected to have a family but now here he was, on the eve of officially being related to someone he actually liked. When he thought about it, asking Mrs Weasley how to get onto the platform all those years ago was probably the best choice he'd made in his life. He thought about all the times he'd played Quidditch and pranked the other occupants of the Burrow. He'd never felt more like he'd belonged anywhere else – except maybe Hogwarts. He'd found people who cared about him and who liked him for just being Harry and who'd even been prepared to give their lives for him. And he felt just as strongly affectionate towards them. They might not be related by blood but Harry knew that he considered the Weasleys his family.

The bickering had become a bit more physical now as Ron and Charlie tried to smack George together for some reason or the other. Bill ducked under Ron's arm as the latter lunged towards George. He settled down next to Harry and watched his brothers trying to hit each other.

"Thanks for this Bill," Harry said. "Getting that Firewhiskey was actually fun."

"Even though the sole purpose was to make fun of you?" Bill grinned.

"Yeah. It felt like something brothers do."

Bill smiled at him kindly. "Oh don't worry, if it's brotherly teasing you want, we're more than happy to provide it." He looked at Harry seriously. "You know what? We should really have said this about eleven years ago: Welcome to the family, Harry."

"Thanks, Bill." Harry smiled as he watched Ron tackle George while Charlie tried to tickle him and Percy tried to free his foot from the tangle. He was definitely excited about spending the rest of his life with Ginny. But if he was honest, he'd have to say he was equally excited about officially having a family.

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><p><strong>Please do review :)<strong>

**I wasn't too happy with this. I might fix up a few things after when I have the chance to get back to it. The basic idea was to show Harry doing something family members would do exclusively to show how much a part of the Weasley family he is but I don't know if I really got the plot across. Let me know what you thought!**

**This was for alpine skiing giant slalom on the Hogwarts Winter Games. **


	21. Childhood Friends

"Ernie come on! Climb up here!"

Five-year-old Ernie pulled himself up the tree as fast as he could. He squeezed himself between two branches and toppled onto the platform of the big tree house. Susan and Hannah yanked him up and all three of them stood on the platform, laughing happily.

"Ernie! Susan! Hannah! Get down here this instant!"

The children stuck their tongues out at the girl who'd yelled at them. "We can see much better from up here Stella," Susan called out to her.

"You little imps, come down right now. You know you're supposed to be on your best behaviour for your Cousin Anne's wedding, Susan," Stella shouted. She glanced nervously over her shoulder. At fifteen, she'd been considered old enough to be put in charge of minding the children until the ceremony was over but they'd run off into the grounds surrounding the Bones' mansion as soon as they'd got the chance.

"Get up here and take us down then," Hannah taunted.

Stella stomped her foot impatiently. "I can't ruin my dress. You wait till your mother sees the state of your clothes, Hannah Abbott, you'll have it then."

"But it's so much fun up here, Stella. You should climb up. Who cares about clothes?" Ernie sounded genuinely confused as to why clothes were more important than the amazing feeling of being in a treehouse to Stella.

"There are more important things than just having fun when you grow up!" Stella shouted. She turned and hurried away in search of an adult to help her with the children.

All three of them looked at each other, horrified by Stella's words. Ernie held out his hand to the two girls, his face solemn. "Let's promise never to grow up. It sounds awful."

Susan and Hannah took his hand, equally solemnly. "I promise," they said together.

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><p>Susan and Hannah ran down the meadow, racing each other to the stables at the bottom of the Abbott family grounds. The girls squealed as Ernie tackled them both from behind and sent all of them tumbling through the grass. They came to a stop as a tangled mess of little limbs in a patch of daisies, laughing hard.<p>

"I saw David Gardner giving Stella a rose yesterday," Susan said as she ran her hand over a daisy. "She blushed like mad and kissed him." She wrinkled her nose.

Hannah and Ernie shuddered. "That's weird. Why do grown-ups do that?" Ernie asked with the disgust only an eight year old boy can muster up at the mention of kissing.

"Because it was Val-en-tynes Day yesterday. Stella told me." Susan looked proud of herself for having pronounced the big word correctly.

"What's that mean?" Hannah asked.

"I think all the grown-ups have to kiss if they like each other and give each other flowers and dress up and go out for dinner."

"It's a good thing we're not grown-ups then," Ernie declared.

"I think it's their way of having fun," Hannah said wisely.

Ernie picked two daisies and handed one to each girl. "Here, I like you both so we should celebrate Val-en-tynes Day too. Maybe friends can have their own things to do on that day. Let's play tag! It's a lot better than dressing up and going out for dinner."

"Okay!" Susan agreed, getting to her feet and bouncing on the balls of her feet, ready to run.

"We should do this every Val-en-tynes Day," Hannah declared as she shoved Ernie. "Tag! You're it!"

* * *

><p>A shriek of laughter rose over the din in the Three Broomsticks. Susan and Hannah clutched each other while Ernie grinned at them, his Butterbeer moustache curling elegantly at the corners of his mouth.<p>

"Look at this one," he said, dipping his finger into the drink and drawing on his face. The girls laughed harder as he twisted his face into a series of hilarious expressions, each one supplemented by a moustache more ridiculous than the previous.

Finally, he wiped his face and took a sip of his Butterbeer. Hannah wiped her eyes while Susan subsided into quiet, occasional giggles. "Oh that was lovely, Ernie," Hannah said. "I needed that laugh."

"Me too," Susan agreed. "What with Umbridge and everything else going on these days, it was nice to act like silly kids again."

"We made a promise never to grow up, remember?" Ernie said, smiling. "We're always going to act like little kids, no matter how old we are."

"Even though we don't think kissing is gross anymore?" Hannah said, smirking.

"Yeah I guess there are _some _parts to growing up that aren't so bad."

* * *

><p>"Hey, I brought this for you."<p>

Hannah looked up at the daisy that Ernie was holding out to her. She took it slowly, turning it over and over in her fingers.

Ernie sat down beside her and cleared his throat. "How are you?"

She shrugged.

"You didn't miss much," he continued. "Charms has been easy and you should find Herbology fine too. Defence has been pretty awful though. Snape's just proving that he can make us hate just about any subject."

"Hmm," was Hannah's reply.

"You missed the Gryffindor's Quidditch tryouts. They were quite funny really, but Potter's a good leader. He proved that last year though, didn't he? Put together a good team though. He's been getting a lot of attention from the girls this year. I think he doesn't quite know what to do with it. He looks more confused than ever," Ernie said, hoping to make Hannah smile.

She simply nodded.

Ernie sighed mentally. He didn't know what to say to make her feel better. What could you possibly say to someone whose mother had been killed by Death Eaters? "I was thinking," he said, "this summer, we can all go to that cabin my parents have in Scotland. Just you, me and Susan. It'll be just like the old times; we can have some fun, get our mind off things, be kids again for a while – "

"It's not Valentine's Day," Hannah interrupted him abruptly. Ernie looked confused so she elaborated. "Why'd you bring me a daisy?"

"I don't know. I thought it might cheer you up, you know? I thought it might remind you of better times and that I still like you very much. You're still my best friend. I figured you'd be feeling like everything's changed now and I thought this would be something familiar – something to remind you that some things don't have to change, they can be the same way they were when we were kids."

"We were, weren't we? Kids I mean." Hannah looked at him and Ernie was surprised at the cold, steeliness of her eyes. "We were silly, Ernie. We can't stay kids forever. At some point, just ignoring everything and doing something silly doesn't change reality. It's getting tough out there. I'm going to be of age next summer and so is Susan. If you think we're going to be relaxing somewhere in Scotland instead of fighting, you're in for a surprise."

She stood up and walked to the door that led to the girls' dormitories. "We can't be kids forever," she said before disappearing into the passage.

Ernie sighed and ran his and through his hair. Childhood friends, that's what they'd been. Hannah, Susan and he had known each other since they were old enough to run around. But Hannah had left the daisy on the table. She'd refused to take a reminder of her childhood; she'd left it behind.

And she'd left Ernie behind with her childhood too. She'd grown up.

Maybe it was time he did too.

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><p><strong>Please review :)<strong>

**This is for the semifinals of the Quidditch League fanfiction competition. The prompts used were: Valentine's Day, The three broomsticks and "we were, weren't we?"**


	22. I Know You

**It's been a while since I've written anything. I thought I'd try a little bit of Tonks/Charlie as best friends. Do review!**

_**To all the wonderful men I've had weird, awkward, deep conversations with. You're amazing friends.**_

* * *

><p>"This place is a mess."<p>

Tonks jumped, startled out of her stupor, grabbed her wand from the coffee table beside her and shot a hex in the direction of the voice while jumping behind the sofa she'd been lying on.

"Bloody hell woman, it's only me, Charlie!"

Tonks peered over the sofa, her eyes narrowing and her wand still trained on him. "What was the first colour you ever saw me change my hair to at Hogwarts?"

"Green. It was during the Sorting and you were nervous." He smirked. "Your whole face was green actually. You never did tell me if it was because you were Metamorphosing or you were just so nervous that you wanted to be sick."

"That's for me to know and you never to find out," Tonks grumbled, coming out from behind the sofa. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"I took a week off work. Thought I'd see the kids before they left for Hogwarts." He stared at her pointedly. "And I hear you're going with them."

Tonks shrugged, not meeting his eye. "I'll go wherever the Ministry thinks I'm required. How did you get into my apartment anyway?"

He snorted. "My brother's a curse-breaker. I've learnt a few handy spells. Wasn't expecting you to nearly take my head off though."

Tonks snorted this time. "Bill would be ashamed if you told him you walked into a locked room without taking precautions first. Did you expect any less from an Auror, especially in these times?"

Charlie shrugged. "Point noted. I did come bearing gifts." He held up the plastic bag he was carrying and pulled out a bottle of Firewhiskey, a tub of ice cream, spoons, glasses and bowls. He set each on the small coffee table.

"I do have cutlery and essentials you know," Tonks said, looking offended.

Charlie settled on the sofa, glanced at the sink in the adjoining kitchen behind Tonks and raised an eyebrow at the sight of the dirty dishes piled up. "Yeah? How long has it been since you used a cleaning charm? This place is a mess." He looked around at the trash can, packed as it was; the candy wrappers lying around; the dust collecting on the stack of newspapers from who knew how long ago and the other odds and ends that cluttered the small apartment. He glanced at the closed door leading to her bedroom. "I don't even want to know what horrors lie in your room."

Tonks flopped down onto the sofa beside him. "You know I'm not good at cleaning charms," she grumbled.

"Tonks, I'm a bachelor living on a dragon reserve. If I tell you you're living like a slob, then you're _really_ living like a slob." He leaned away from her. "You took a bath in the morning, didn't you? Are you even wearing clean underwear?"

Tonks punched him in the arm, smiling despite herself. "Shut up Charlie."

He grinned at her. He poured out two glasses of Firewhiskey and handed her one. "How are you doing, Tonks?" he asked.

The sudden shift to tenderness startled Tonks. She looked at him, saw the meaningful look in his eyes and knew why he was there. She didn't want to show him how much she'd missed him, how much she'd wanted her best friend there for her the last couple of weeks. It was so silly to be worried about _boy troubles _given the current climate. She looked away. "I'm fine."

"Your hair's brown. I've only seen it in that shade when your owl died in second year. You're not fine."

"I'm _fine,_ Charlie."

"Yeah? Why are you running away to Hogwarts then when we both know you'd love to be going on raids and finding Death Eaters here? All the action is here. Harry's not going to get into any trouble at school; not with Dumbledore to keep an eye on him."

"I'm just going wherever Robards wants me. If he thinks I'm better off at Hogwarts, then that's where I need to be." _Why did he have to know her so well?_

"And you just gave in to do patrols without fighting? That's not like you. Come on, Tonks, what's bothering you?"

"Nothing's bothering me. We're living in dangerous times, Dad's a Muggleborn, Mum's not exactly the family's golden girl. I'm a bit stressed out, that's all." _Why wasn't she telling him how she felt? She so badly wanted to just tell someone everything._

"It's Remus, isn't it? Something happened between you two."

"Damn it Charlie, why can't you _leave it alone_?" Tonks burst out.

"I'm your best friend. I'm not going to leave it alone. I don't like seeing you unhappy," Charlie said.

"Some best friend you are!" Tonks yelled suddenly. "You're off in Romania all the bloody time. If you really cared about me, you'd have been there for me. You just disappear every time I need you. You kissed me on our graduation day and then disappeared to Romania without even telling me if it meant anything to you. You disappeared to Egypt for a holiday when I was nearly in tears from the stress of the Auror exam. You could have stayed here and worked in the British reserve, just like Bill's working here now. But no, you can't be around other people's _feelings_, can you? You just like to get away from all the drama! You don't know what it's like here! There's always this tension in the air and you wake up every day wondering if you're going to wake up again tomorrow and on top of all that I have to deal with a stupid man who won't face his feelings. You know what, Charlie? Remus Lupin is just like you!"

"I'm just trying to make you feel better," Charlie said softly.

Tonks wiped her eyes furiously, taking deep breaths and trying to stop the sobs. "Well just turning up here on a random night with a drink and some ice cream isn't going to make me feel better. In fact, you – " She stopped short as Charlie pulled her into a bone crushing hug.

"It's going to be okay," he murmured into her hair. He traced little circles on her back, just at the back of her neck. He was the only one who knew how much that calmed her down. It was a trick her father had taught him when she was going through her moody teenager phase. Tonks collapsed against him, all the anger leaving her as she sobbed into his shoulder. She had wanted someone to do this – to just hold her and tell her it was going to be okay – so badly. She couldn't stand the guilt, the anger and all the other feelings Remus brought out in her. Her Mum had just left her alone when she'd yelled at her. She had just wanted her best friend so badly and now she'd yelled at him too but he was still there, hugging her. She had missed him so _much_.

"He told me he was too old, that it wouldn't work out. He kept saying he was poor and dangerous but he never said he didn't love me too," she sobbed. "If he'd said that, I could get over him but I can't forget him when there might still be a chance."

"Shh, it's okay. Everything's going to be alright, love," Charlie said. "He's a good man. He'll see that he's making a mistake soon enough."

"How is everything going to be okay? We might not even live long enough for him to see anything!"

"Tonks, you're my best friend but you can be dramatic at times. Remember fourth year when you had a crush on Walter Davies and you moped around for a week because he didn't know who you were? You made your hair all sorts of ludicrous shades to try and get him to notice you," Charlie said. "You-Know-Who or his cronies aren't going to touch you near Hogwarts and Remus is smart enough to keep his head down among the werewolves. You're both going to see each other again, snog and live happily ever after."

"Walter Davies never did learn my name," she mumbled against his shoulder. "He just thought I was the 'girl with the funny hair.'"

"You did punch him when he said that to your face though."

Tonks grinned. "Yeah, that felt good." She sighed. "I love Remus, Charlie. This isn't just drama. I want to be with him all the time. I don't know how to get through the day without him. I keep thinking about him all the time. Even my Patronus has changed into a wolf. I'm having trouble Metamorphosing."

"Metamorphosing is practically your identity," Charlie said quietly. "You love him that much?"

Tonks nodded. She took a gulp of her Firewhiskey. "I love him," she said quietly.

Charlie was quiet for a moment. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. "I know everything sucks right now and you don't think he'll ever come around but I think he will. He's idiotically noble and unselfish and not particularly confident. But you're a wonderful woman, Tonks. He's not blind. He knows what he's missing. I know I'm not exactly the right person to give you love advice but I do know that you both really just want to be happy and you both also know that you can't be happy without each other. He's going to realise that soon. He's going to come back to you. Everything's going to work out, you'll see." He shrugged before adding, "And if he doesn't, I'll hex him for hurting you anyway."

Tonks looked at him. It felt so good to be told _she_ wasn't the reason Remus didn't seem to want to go out with her and to have someone who truly cared about her around. "You didn't come down here just to see the kids off to school, did you?"

"I haven't had a letter from you for three weeks now. I knew something was wrong."

"When did you become such a good best friend?" She looked at him seriously. "I've missed you, you know. I'm glad you came. I'm sorry for yelling at you."

"Don't be, I've been a bit of a jerk by running off like that, I know." He grinned. "I got you butterscotch ice cream to make up for it."

Tonks smiled up at him and lunged for the tub on the table. "You're the best!" She screwed up her eyes suddenly.

Charlie smiled as her hair changed to the light golden colour of the ice cream, just for a moment before going back to brown. "It's going to take some time, but it really will be okay. You'll be happy again and you can metamorphose normally." he assured her. "It'll probably take a lot more ice cream though," he noted, watching the way she was shovelling the ice cream into her mouth.

"Don't tease," she grumbled. "Good best friends don't do that

He laughed. "Have you had a decent meal in a while? I don't think you've got any clean dishes left to eat out of."

"I'm not _that_ bad you know."

Charlie raised an eyebrow.

"Okay fine, I've been living off takeaway. I've been under a lot of stress," Tonks admitted, rolling her eyes.

"You never did tell me if you're wearing clean underwear."

"Shut up Charlie."

* * *

><p><strong>I don't know if this was too abrupt or something. I'm a bit rusty. Let me know what you thought, please review :)<strong>

**This is for round 2 of the QLFC written as reserve for the Chudley Cannons Keeper. The action is Tonks changing.**


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